


The King of White Lies

by kingpig



Series: Kingsland [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Be Warned All Ye Who Enter Here, Chains, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Thunder and Lightning, season 6, there will be a lemon in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:26:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingpig/pseuds/kingpig
Summary: Doc's impossible portal was in Area 77 for a reason - that reason being, it did not behave like a portal should.When Xisuma found that out firsthand, Doc decided to get to the bottom of what was up with this barely-stable portal he had created. What he expected, he didn't know. What he had not expected was a black void... with a single lone inhabitant, suspended in the neverending darkness by chains shackled to his wrists.Well.Ex had to have gone somewhere after all.
Relationships: Docm77/EvilXisuma
Series: Kingsland [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130726
Comments: 39
Kudos: 126





	1. Hello, Ex

**Author's Note:**

> First things first - this is a work of fiction, based strictly on the ingame personas of any and all Hermits mentioned. I am aware that separating real-life person and minecraft avatar can only be taken so far since on some level they are obviously the same. That said, the characters in this are in no way meant to represent the actual people behind the usernames and are rather inspired by a combination of canon and fanon content that involves their characters. This does not reflect in any shape or form how I believe they do or should interact irl. It's all fake, and it's going to get explicit (and I mean _explicit_ ) eventually because I'm a horny bitch who has no concept of self-control.
> 
> This is set in season 6, but it deviates from canon occurences to varying degrees here and there. Most of it just concerns the order or time spans in which things happened, I've just flat out left some stuff out completely or shortened the time between specific events occuring. It's really a bit all over the place in terms of that, also there's references to season 7 jokes because I like them.  
> It's also a delightful mishmash of Minecraft and real world logic, so just roll with it.
> 
> Most important canon deviations for this are that a) Doc just made the infinity portal all by and for himself because he wanted to see if he could, no Tomato Yoshi shenanigans involved (lbr that character was just... creepy) and b) Doc's circle-of-doom raid farm is just his base that looms somewhere over Area 77 for the purposes of this fic.
> 
> I'll leave some links in the end notes to some specific canon events that I'm either referencing or just took from videos directly.

< Xisuma fell from a high place > the communicator said, quickly followed by an update from the man himself.

Xisuma: < I’m okay! >

Xisuma: < Aw man, I’m at spawn >

Doc frowned. He’d only just seen Xisuma fly over Area 77 a couple of moments ago… he should probably gather his stuff for him while he made his way back, and also check where exactly he’d crashed. Just to be sure he hadn’t fallen into anything not meant for just anyone to see. Granted, Xisuma was the one with access to the code and as such was probably the one person who could reasonably just demand access to all of his hidden little secrets, but… well, as long as he didn’t explicitly do so…

Docm77: < Where? Might be able to get your stuff >

Xisuma: < Central station >

Central station? There was no feasible way for Xisuma to have gotten there since Doc had seen him here in Area 77… right? And he knew it had been him, he would know that green armour anywhere.

Docm77: < How did you get over there??? >

Xisuma: < Your funny-business portal spat me out there >

Doc froze. The portal?

Docm77: < You went through it??? >

Xisuma: < Well yea >

Xisuma: < See what all the fuss is about, what with the zero of all of the senses it makes >

Docm77: < Did you not have your elytra on? >

Xisuma: < … >

Xisuma: < Ah. >

Xisuma: < Took that off to use invis >

Doc shook his head in disbelief. So Xisuma _had_ been here to snoop. 

He looked across the grassy field. Way in the distance, just barely still visible, he could see the purple glow of the portal. He’d have to investigate that – he had only recently managed to stabilize the portal in it’s half-shattered form and not yet gone through it himself. Leave it to the Hermits to unwittingly act as his guinea pigs.

Docm77: < Gonna grab your stuff, meet u there >

Xisuma: < Thanks! >

A few minutes later, Doc dove down from the top of the Central Railway Station with a shulker full of Xisuma’s belongings. Not long after, Xisuma himself arrived. Even though only his eyes were visible through the purple visor, Doc could tell he was grinning sheepishly. 

“Thanks man, appreciate it.”

“I hope you learned something about sticking your helmet into other people’s experiments,” Doc replied, handing the shulker over. Xisuma swiftly began to rummage through it.

“Yeah, about that,” he said as he clipped his elytra back onto his armour, “Might wanna ask the guy in charge of the code before you break the rules of the reality it pertains to.”

“Hey,” Doc said with a huff, “I’m just experimenting dude, not my fault reality is so easily manipulated!”

“Remember when Mumbo manipulated reality a bit too hard with his pumpkins and we all paid the price for it?” 

“Wasn’t around for the moment of impact. But come on X, don’t be so dramatic! You’re alive and well and I got you all your stuff back even though _you_ came into Area 77 to snoop?”

Xisuma paused his organising activities briefly to shoot Doc an indignant look. “I wasn’t snooping!”

“You weren’t _invited_ , were you?”

“Admin’s prerogative,” Xisuma just said as he finally closed the shulker back up and handed it back. Doc could hear the grin in his voice. “Thanks, Doc. I promise to knock first next time. Just, do me a favour and make sure that portal isn’t gonna cause problems?”

“I will do that, don’t worry about it man. If I need my stuff picked up, I’ll let you know.”

Xisuma laughed. “See you around, Doc. Careful with your mad scientist exploits!” 

And with that, he had taken off into the skies and was gone. Doc rolled his eyes and watched his silhouette disappear with a smile. Time to see what really was going on with that portal.

It took him a good while to tie up all the loose ends he’d left hanging in favour of helping Xisuma out of his curiosity-induced misfortune. But finally, Doc had gotten his ducks in a row and his inventory cleared out so now, with a supply of tools, food and a fully charged up elytra, he was ready to see what this mysterious portal was all about.

Only when he saw the sky above Area 77 fade away did it suddenly hit him that Xisuma had said he had come _out_ of the portal above Central Station. But it was still a Nether portal. It had to send him somewhere before it could let him return back to the overworld.

But the realisation came just a little too late for Doc to step back out of the purple glow that tore at his body and pulled at his core in the way he was by now so familiar with that normally, he no longer paid it any mind. Darkness engulfed him and it was only thanks to his engineered eyes and the ever so faint glow of the portal behind him that he did not find himself in pitch black as he stumbled forward. 

Before he had time to react, the glow of the portal vanished behind him and the gateway was gone. Great. Now what?

Somewhere in the distant blackness, something glowed softly. The exit portal? Did it teleport, was that it? Had Xisuma stumbled out of it only to fall right back through it?

Doc began walking towards the dim light. The floor he was stepping on seemed to stretch endlessly around him, or maybe it just faded into the blackness of walls around him that he could not see. The light slowly came into closer view. It didn’t _look_ like a portal. It was too reddish and far too faint to be a portal. But what else could it be?

As he continued walking, Doc felt a lump form in his throat. His steps were not without sound, but seemed strangely muffled and yet terribly echo-y in this strange, infinite space around him. And that light was still there, drawing his eyes, keeping them fixed on itself. Did… did it _move_?

He kept going. What was the worst that could happen? Even if he died – worst case, he’d lose his gear and end up at spawn. That was survivable, as paradoxical as that was in and of itself.

Something slowly came into view around the reddish glow. Doc’s heart skipped a beat when he recognized that it was a silhouette. Whoever that was – they were smaller than him. Well, that was familiar at least. Everyone was smaller than him, it was one of the facts of life for someone whose main physical attributes consisted of those of a humanoid monster crossed with a cyborg. 

Slowly, more features came into view, creeping out of the dark like fog across a meadow at nightfall. The glow, Doc could now tell, came from the helmet of a figure that, clad in a dark suit of armour, was suspended in the seemingly infinite darkness by chains that were shackled around their wrists. Barring the circumstances, the person looked eerily familiar to the one Doc had watched soar away only hours prior. He stopped walking, staring down at the figure that had yet to react to him at all, but Doc knew that he had noticed him the second he’d stepped foot through the portal.

“Hello, Ex.”

Finally, the armour-suited figure lifted his head. Behind the illuminated visor that he was so familiar with in a shade of soft blueish violet rather than the paradoxically cold red he was currently faced with, a pair of eyes became visible. He looked worn – physically. The eyes that Doc could now make out staring up at him seemed as sharp as ever.

“Doc.”

The voice sounded even more raspy than he remembered, hoarse and throaty from ages of being unused. Dusty and left abandoned, like the suit of armour he was wearing. 

“Rather interesting for our paths to cross again, isn’t it?” Doc asked, watching a faint tilt of the helmeted head. “Of all the ways I was expecting to see you again, this is not one I even considered.”

He swore, he could make out traces of a smile in what little he could see of Ex’s face. 

“Expecting to? You miss me that much?”

“Hardly. It has been lovely not to have to worry about you blowing something up every time we’ve made significant progress on it.” 

Ex didn’t respond. He merely glared defiantly. 

Doc let his eyes wander around. There really was nothing but endless dark around them. Even Ex’s chains had no discernible point of origin, instead they merely vanished into the lack of light above.

Doc cast a pointed look downward. Unsurprisingly, Ex still seemed to watch his every movement like a hawk. If he had malicious intentions or was simply delighted to have anything to look at at all after being left with nothing to see for so long, Doc couldn’t tell.

“So,” he picked the conversation back up again, demonstratively letting his eyes wander about the emptiness around them, “Nice place you’ve got here. The void really suits you. The ambience and all that… beautiful combination, if I do say so myself. Only thing is…”

Doc returned his gaze down to meet Ex’s cold stare. “It seems to me you’re missing an exit.”

Ex gave a dry laugh. “Really, am I? Why, I hadn’t noticed! Silly me, if only I’d known that all I had to do was build myself a way to get out!”

Doc arched an eyebrow and Ex’s laughter subsided. “There isn’t one. The void is a one-way street to hell.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

Ex didn’t respond, but he didn’t break eye contact either. Just continued to glare up at the red eyes above him as if he could somehow will Doc to be stared down. Doc just let out an annoyed groan. He’d forgotten how much of a _brat_ Ex could be. 

“And you wonder how you ended up here.”

He pulled up his communicator and lo and behold, it was working just fine. A string of friendly bickering interspersed with some haggling about bulk orders of one resource or another flashed up. The light of it seemed unnaturally bright in the darkness surrounding him. He pulled up the tab list. There they were: Ren, Grian, Scar, Biffa, Cleo, and his chosen saviour, Xisuma.

Docm77: < Hey X, some help? >

He could see Ex watching him from the corner of his eye. The chains rattled ever so faintly when he moved, but he still remained stubborn. Doc kept his eyes pointedly fixed on the communicator screen at his wrist, but took care to not let his attention slip away from Ex completely. He could almost see the gears turning inside the black helmet.

Xisuma: < What do you need? Was about to leave the work be for today >

Docm77: < Teleport me to my base? >

Doc knew that Ex could read along just fine, and as he’d predicted, the request provoked a reaction. The chains clinked as Ex strained against them, using what little room of movement he had. The communicator gave a quiet ‘ping!’. Doc noticed that the armour plate on Ex’s left arm was missing a piece where his communication panel had once been. Now, all that was left was a shallow hole in the metal that old, frayed wires stuck out of. 

Doc shifted his focus onto his own, luckily perfectly working one.

Renthedog: < Filthy cheater! >

Docm77: < Dirty hippie! >

Doc grinned. Ren did have a point, they did not normally even acknowledge these possibilities, so for him to so blatantly request it was bound to provoke a reaction of this sort. 

‘Ping!’

Xisuma: < What. Why??? >

Docm77: < Scientist’s prerogative >

Docm77: < Portal research is proving troublesome >

He let the message sit for a moment, risking a glance over at Ex. His eyes were so intently fixed on the communicator screen that Doc was almost sure he didn’t even notice. One more push should do it, Doc guessed.

Docm77: < Promise it’s a one-time issue. Should probably tear it down so this doesn’t happen again >

For a moment, the messages just hung there on the screen. Then – 

Xisuma: < Fine. Give me 5 >

Docm77: < Let me know when >

He left the communicator active for another second, then he switched it off and turned his attention back to Ex, who hung tense in his chains and stared daggers at him.

“It seems you were right about there being no way out, Ex. It appears there really isn’t one.” He paused for just a second. “For you.”

“How do you know it’s gonna work.”

Doc suppressed a grin. Stubborn to the bitter end. Outwardly, he allowed no change in his expression, only returning Ex’s hard glare with one of his own.

“We both know it will. Xisuma put you here. He can get me out.”

Ex’s lack of response hung heavy in the silent air between them, both knowing that it was the closest he allowed himself to get to admitting defeat.

“But I can’t count on his good graces forever. This one time is already pushing it. So if you have anything to say, you’d better say it now cause I’ll have to destroy that portal as soon as I get back. Can’t risk other Hermits stumbling through and having no way of getting back.”

“Should have known the risks when you built a chunk-ripped portal .”

Doc took one large step towards Ex, crowding in his space, and bent down so they were eye-to-eye. Defiantly as ever, Ex stared back at him. Not even so much as a twitch.

“You demonstrating that you know what I’ve built without me telling you only proves what I’ve known from the get-go: that you’re a liar, and an awful one at that. Don’t act clueless when you’re not. We both know Xisuma came in through that portal and he was out of it again so fast that he’d already hit the ground before he knew what was even happening to him.”

“Serves him right, the damned git,” Ex grumbled under his breath, but Doc ignored it entirely.

“So. I will tell you what I think. I think that you know exactly what this portal is, and that you have something to do with how and where it shows up here.”

‘Ping!’ went the communicator. Neither of them reacted to it. 

“You have a choice, Ex. Either you get over yourself and meet me halfway, or I will have Xisuma get me out of here, smash that portal to pieces and you will rot in the dark, alone, for who knows how many more weeks, months, maybe even years.”

‘Ping!’

“What do I get from it?” Ex’s voice was hardly more than a whisper, reaching Doc’s ears as a barely restrained growl. “For you to come gawk at me like I’m one of your little experiments until you’ve satisfied your curiosity?”

This time, Doc allowed himself to grin. “What have you got to lose?”

The communicator pinged for a third time and Doc stepped back to open up the glowing screen. 

Xisuma: < Okay, ready when you are >

Xisuma: < Doc? >

Xisuma: < Giving you 30 secs, then I’m pushing the button >

Docm77: < I’m ready! >

“Fine!” Ex’s hurried voice reached him as soon as he’d hit send. The chains rattled as they strained against Ex’s wrist when he snapped his fingers as best as he could. In the flash of a pitifully weak bolt of lightning, the familiar purple glow of a portal appeared some distance away. 

Doc grinned. “I’ll keep Xisuma off your trail for now.” 

And with that, he felt the tug at his core – not dissimilar to the one he got from the portals, and yet so fully unfamiliar that it always unsettled him. Within a beat of his heart, the darkness with Ex’s faintly illuminated figure suspended in it had vanished and he found himself blinking into the glaring sun overhead. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes against the sudden brightness that bounced beautifully off of the stained glass floor under his feet. Way below, he could see the grassy plains he’d left what felt like eternities ago to jump through the portal. 

When he turned around to gather himself, he nearly jumped out of his skin finding himself face to face with Xisuma. Or, well. It was more like face to chest, really. Xisuma was by no means small, but Doc’s gigantic frame towered over him.

“ _Holy-_ don’t _do_ that man, Jesus Christ!”

“Good to see you too. Where on earth did you get to that you of all people couldn’t get out of?!”

“Limbo, man,” Doc replied with a grin. Xisuma merely arched an eyebrow at him in response.

Doc gave him a propitiatory smile. “Look man I’m sorry, I didn’t want to have to ask for you to break reality on my behalf. I figured the worst case would be that I fall off Central, end up at spawn and had nobody around to help me get my stuff back. Didn’t plan on ending up in a situation where even having my elytra on wouldn’t help me.”

“Goodness me, what have you wrought with that cursed portal of yours, huh? If you keep these shenanigans up, I’ll have to up the protection on code-access, seeing as you’re already going around breaking chunks, and reality with them.”

Doc clapped him on the shoulder and got a chuckle in return. “Could’ve been worse, man. I just gotta double-check a few more things with it, but I don’t think I’ll need you to stage another limbo-jailbreak.”

“So, is that the end of the cursed portal then?”

“No, I think I got it stable enough to keep it around, but maybe we shouldn’t use it like a regular one. It does behave a bit too unpredictably for that… but it _is_ cool to look at, it doesn’t pose too much of a risk just standing there.”

“So it’s not a risk, but it’s also unpredictable, which is a risk?” it sounded more like a deadpan statement than a question. Doc smiled and hummed in agreement, watching the sun slowly descend towards the horizon. 

“With a little more work, it won’t trap anyone to the point where you need to step in and mess with the code-side of things. But I don’t think it can be made reliable in terms of where it leads. I don’t know if that won’t just always be random.”

Xisuma nodded. “You’ve made this thing, I’m sure you’re more than able to deal with it. But if I have to teleport one more person out of a mess related to it, the portal goes.”

“Absolutely, man,” Doc agreed. He knew that Xisuma wasn’t really all that angry about having had to make use of his Admin’s prerogative, as he called it. But they’d all agreed as a group not to make use of it, and especially so because it was Xisuma who would have to coordinate these things for all the Hermits. Of course, their current system could always be restructured, but… there really was no need when Doc wasn’t messing with cursed portals.

“Alright. Time to go, finally!” Xisuma said, stretching his arms over his head. Doc nodded. “Yeah man, it’s been a day for sure, you’ve earned your down time.”

Xisuma nodded and adjusted his elytra, ready to fly off. 

“Oh, wait, X, one more thing – don’t – I don’t know why you’d want to, but if you wanna use the portal, give me a heads-up first. If you get yourself tangled up somewhere bad, none of us can get you out of there.”

“As long as I’ve got my communicator, I can get out of anywhere.”

The image of Ex flashed before Doc’s inner eye – chained up at the wrists, barely able to move, with only old, dead wires where his communicator had been. If Ex managed to overpower him, things would go south. If he managed to overpower Xisuma… worst case, there would be no one left to stop him.

“Just. If you use it, let me know.”

“Scientist’s prerogative, huh?” Xisuma grinned. “Don’t wanna miss out on more data?”

Doc smiled in return, but shook his head. “Minimizing the risks of reality-bending. But let’s be done with work, now. It’s been a long day.”

Xisuma nodded and tapped his helmet with two fingers. “See you, Doctor Robotnik.”

“You’re so rude. Gonna be your doom one day,” Doc retorted, casting a pointed look at Xisuma’s choice of armour.

Xisuma laughed and then, he was off. The sun had set so far now that down below, the torches and lights started throwing patches of light on the grass. A violet glow emitted from the portal, stronger towards the broken side of it.

‘Ping!’

< Xisuma left the game >

Doc paused and pulled up the tab list. Only his own name showed up in glowing letters. He looked towards the last visible traces of the sinking sun and sighed. Now was as good a time as any.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xisuma falling out of the funny-business portal: [HERE](https://youtu.be/BkHXjF3k6ro?t=105)
> 
> Mumbo manipulating reality a bit too hard: [HERE](https://youtu.be/K3kyt_ehL-Y?t=653)
> 
> Doc explaining his chunk-ripped portal (he doesn't call it that, I came up with that term): [HERE](https://youtu.be/svRsG5_ssK4?t=686)  
> (I also found an explanation for how that works on reddit by user **just_tiscan** that I copypasted below)  
> The blocks on the left were removed using the chunk-trick. He built it in a way where the left column of blocks is in chunk A and the rest of the portal in chunk B. He then lights the portal and resets Chunk A to its former state (without the portal in it). The rest of the portal stays lit and the left side disappears. This can be done by exploiting a bug where specially prepared books cause a chunk to become too big (on the hard-disk) to be saved.


	2. Apple

When Doc stepped back through the portal this time, it did not disappear behind him. With slow, heavy steps, he walked up to the unmoving silhouette. Well, where was he supposed to move, anyways. His feet so very barely reached the ground that he had no room to take even a single step in any direction without the chains maxing out their tension.

A few feet away, Doc stopped. Ex raised his head. The look in his eyes remained reserved and calculated, but it had lost some of its piercing cold sharpness. 

“Back so soon?”

Doc pulled up the empty tab list once again so Ex could see it. 

“All alone, huh? No Xisuma to come bail you out?”

“He’ll be back,” Doc said simply. “But I figure you’ll be more inclined to cooperate at least a little bit without him around. You’ve not locked me in with you this time.”

“What’s the fun in it if you won’t play by the rules.”

“That’s how I got here in the first place, so a little appreciation for that might be in order.”

Ex only huffed.

Doc reached into his inventory and brought out a shulkerbox. “You hungry?”

Ex’s frame seemed to straighten ever so slightly. Suspicion was written all over what Doc could see of his face. “Why?”

Doc shrugged. “You’ve been here a while. I figure you don’t die from hunger for whatever reason, but it’s gotta be a bit sad to miss out on food altogether.”

“Don’t try and be friendly. I don’t quite know why you’re here, _again_ might I add, but I’ve not had company for ages and frankly, beggars can’t be choosers. But you and I aren’t friends, so don’t act like you _pitying_ me is going to change that.”

“I’m not pitying you, you sure as hell aren’t giving me a single reason to even remotely feel bad for you.”

“Then what? Why _are_ you here?”

Doc looked at the chained up figure. That was the question, wasn’t it? Why was he here, really? Out of curiosity, like Ex had rightfully predicted when he’d left him the last time. He had questions about the portal, about the void dimension, and really, also about Ex himself. How often did you get to investigate someone who could and very nearly had managed to destroy an entire world – without him being able to also destroy you in the process?

Doc shrugged and grinned. “Curiosity.”

Ex scoffed. “I’m not your guinea pig!”

“No, and I don’t want you to be. But you make it fundamentally impossible to talk to you like a normal person, so this is the compromise, I suppose. And, to get back to that, I brought food for myself, so it would be rather rude to not offer you some, wouldn’t it? Some of us have manners, believe it or not.”

“If you had any manners, you’d get me out of these chains.”

“Unfortunately for you, I also have common sense, so no, I am not going to do that.”

Doc could’ve sworn he saw Ex grin at that. 

“How do those work, anyways? What do they attach to?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t get to see the mechanics of my prison.”

Doc raised an eyebrow and dug around in his shulker until he found some rockets and a torch. Ex gave a dry laugh. “Gonna investigate, huh? Ever the scientist.”

“Oh shut up.”

Flying up into the darkness, it seemed as impenetrable from above as it did from below. Following the chain brought no further insights either, since it seemed to simply vanish into the dark at some point, losing all tangibility but still fulfilling its purpose.

Doc landed back down on the floor that, now that the glow from the portal illuminated it, was not quite as indistinguishable from the rest of the darkness around it anymore.

“So?”

“Don’t know. Void magic.”

“Wow.”

Doc shrugged and grabbed an apple from his supplies. “You sure you don’t want anything?”

Doc motioned towards his face with the apple. Not that Ex could feed himself with his wrists chained back like that. Doc would have to help him out.

Ex scowled. “Touch this helmet and I will eat _you_.”

“Suit yourself.”

Munching away, Doc busied himself rustling through his supplies. He’d brought a couple of shulkers full of all kinds of bits and bobs, and had of course neglected to really sort anything properly. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Ex watched him in that hawk-like fashion Doc had noticed during his first visit. 

“…what are you doing?”

Doc didn’t even bother looking up. “Sorting. Since you don’t want to talk to me, I figure I can at least busy myself with something useful.”

Ex didn’t respond and for a while, Doc just focused on his task in silence. 

“Why are you doing it here?” Ex finally asked. Doc shot him a quick glance before going back to being elbow deep in some redstone, spider eyes and a random assortment of potions. 

“Why not? It’s as good as any place.”

No reply followed, and Doc worked away quietly for a while. He was putting the last of the boxes in order when Ex broke the silence once again. 

“What do you have in there?”

Doc paused and looked up. Ex’s expression was a strange mixture of grumpy and embarrassed. 

“…a bit of everything. Why?”

“Do… have you got something to build with?”

“Uh, yeah I got some stone?”

He could hear Ex take a heavy breath before he, seemingly with significant effort, continued. “Can you put some under me? I’ve been in this position so long, I’m not sure I have arms anymore.”

Doc couldn’t help the amused smile that crept onto his face. “No, you still got them, don’t you worry.”

Ex pointedly stared off to the side. Doc’s grin grew wider. “That hard for you to ask for some help?”

Immediately, Ex’s eyes snapped back towards him, glaring daggers. “Can you just answer my question?!”

Doc chuckled to himself and grabbed a green shulker box to fish out some stone. 

“Be nice, and I’ll make you a chair.”

A short while later, Ex was slowly lowering his arms from where they had been suspended behind him. Doc had created a little makeshift backrest and some steps for Ex to stand on while he grimaced at the long forgotten sensation of movement. The chains rattled quietly above.

“Lift your right foot for me?”

Ex just did as he was told and stepped up on one more stone block.

“Left foot.”

The chains clinked against his armour as Ex lowered his arms for the first time in forever. He groaned. 

Doc got up from where he had been kneeling next to his crude stone installation and laughed. Now standing on a not insignificantly high pile of stone, Ex’s eyes were just about level with his.

“Had a growth spurt there, Ex?”

“Dude, give me a minute to adjust to the fact that I still have arms and can feel them for once.”

Doc lifted his hands up defensively. “Alright, okay. You should be able to sit back by the way, I think they’re long enough. The chains I mean. But your arms, too.”

Ex grumbled and slumped backwards. It cost him almost all but the last bit of give Doc had managed to get out of the chains for him, but he was able to sit. With a dull clank, he let his head fall back against the stone seat and groaned audibly. Doc busied himself putting his supplies away again before he fished a bottle out of one of his now neatly organized shulker boxes.

When Doc stepped up to him once more, Ex winced almost violently. Doc held up the bottle as an explanation. Before Ex had had the chance to protest, Doc had already cut him off. “Relax. It’s a splash potion, no helmet removal needed. Might help your arms.”

He cracked the bottle on the stone chair and glowing liquid flowed down to where it seeped through the cracks of Ex’s armour and disappeared. Ex’s eyes fell shut and he relaxed visibly into the makeshift chair. It could by no means be comfortable, but he’d said it himself before – beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Carefully, Doc set the broken remains of the bottle to the side. Ex was slumping against him. Doc just caught him by the shoulder and stood still while Ex took some deep breaths, as if he’d not filled his lungs properly in a very long time. 

Finally, he opened his eyes and immediately stiffened when he realized the position he was in. He quickly scrambled away and stood back up, bringing him up to Doc’s eye level once more. 

“…thank you,” he managed, visibly uncomfortable. Doc laughed. “That hard to ask for help, huh?”

“Shut up.”

Doc only laughed louder. “Fine. How about you answer one of my questions in return and I’ll drop it?”

Ex’s eyes had assumed their usual guarded look once again. “…fine.”

Doc reached into his pocket and held an apple in front of Ex’s face. “You hungry?”

This time, Ex laughed. It sounded more genuine than just about any other sound he’d ever made in Doc’s presence. Doc grinned. „I figured since you can reach your own head now, you can eat it when I’m gone.”

There was a pause, then Ex lifted his chin ever so slightly and grabbed the apple from Doc’s hand. “And when will that be?”

Doc shrugged. “I am pretty tired out at this point, not gonna lie. So I’d say I’ll head out and you can do with that apple as you will.”

“Finally some peace and quiet.”

“I’ll shatter that portal if you want peace and quiet.”

Ex’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. At least I can sit for the next eleventy thousand years.”

Doc laughed at that. “I’ll be back, Ex. Probably tomorrow, but you know how it is. Always big projects to build.”

“More to blow up, if you ask me.”

“I’m not. Your answers are way too predictable anyways. Enjoy your apple, Ex.”

“Enjoy your freedom,” Ex replied, voice dripping like acid. Doc just waved and slipped back through the portal. He was bone-tired.

It was days later before Doc found the tab list almost empty and himself with enough time to sneak away and through the half-portal. While he could have gone at a few points during the previous days, there had always been too many people around for him to really want to risk it. He’d let the Hermits know to keep their distance from the portal specifically, since not everyone was really all that inclined to stay out of Area 77 simply because he and Scar told them to – but he did not want to risk one of them flying over and seeing him disappear through it. If they began to question why it was apparently safe for him to go through, he would have a lot of explaining to do that he currently did not exactly want to be faced with.

But now that apart from him it was only Tango and Impulse, who no doubt were up to their own specific brand of shenanigans elsewhere, he felt safe enough to disappear without arousing suspicions.

When he stepped into the by now almost familiar void and walked over to the makeshift throne of isolation, he found Ex slumped on it with his head sunk on his chest and the apple Doc had left him clasped firmly in his right hand. The left lay slack on the stone armrest, dead wires reflecting the red light from his visor.

Doc crouched down a few feet away and quietly set down a torch and a couple of shulker boxes he’d brought to busy himself with the contents, having expected Ex to refuse talking to him before he got over himself after a while. But now that he’d found him sleeping in his chains like he was trying to imitate a renaissance painting, Doc just rummaged through his shulkers as quietly as possible.

A whole bunch of useless discoveries such as saplings, single diorite blocks and ink sacs, as well as a good portion of his enchanting books later, he heard movement from the stone chair. When he looked up, he was met with a quite disoriented looking Ex. His expression quickly changed to thorough confusion when he took in Doc’s broad-shouldered figure, looking up at him from where he was sitting cross-legged in the midst of a wild assortment of random items and shulker boxes.

“…what am I looking at?”

Doc chuckled. “You were asleep, so I busied myself.”

Ex just blinked a few times, seemingly unable to come up with a response to this statement. Doc got up from the floor and instead sat on one of the shulkers, pointedly staring at Ex’s right hand. “Nice grip on that apple, dude. Should I leave you something else to remember me by so you’ll actually eat it?”

“Haha, very funny,” Ex replied with an eyeroll that Doc could hear. 

“Why’d you take it if you didn’t wanna eat it?”

“I did.”

“So…?”

Ex stared at him for a couple of moments with an almost pained expression, then he looked away. “Helmet’s stuck.”

Doc couldn’t help but break into a full belly-laugh. Ex looked more than a bit contrite about having told him. 

“You’re like a cat in a cone!” Doc managed in between bursts of laughter. Ex groaned. “Well what was I supposed to do! I tried my best, but it wouldn’t budge.”

“Do you want me to look at – “

“No.”

“No apples for you then,” Doc said without letting Ex’s angry interruption of his help offering even bother him. For a couple of moments they just stared at each other, then Ex jerked his free hand so the chain attached to it rattled loudly. An echo bounced off of the walls that presumably existed somewhere around them. The chains shivered at tension when Ex stretched his arm forward. “If I could reach you, I’d give you a whack with your damn apple.”

“Throw it at my face, see if I care. I offered you help, you’re acting like I kicked your dog.”

Ex just glared at him for a moment, but he made no attempt to act on Doc’s suggestion. Doc had turned his focus back on his shulker chaos. If Ex was going to be a brat, then Doc was not going to be the one to stop him. He could always leave, after all.

“Why’d you come back?”

Doc stayed silent for a moment before he replied, demonstratively not looking up from what he was doing. “I can do this anywhere. Thought you could use the company.”

“I don’t want your damn pity, you – !”

“I’m not _pitying_ you.”

“Then _why_ are you here? Still _curious_?”

Doc put down his things and stood up to slowly walk over to Ex’s rough stone chair until he was only inches away from him. He knew what his towering frame looked like to those around him, especially now that Ex was seated. For a heartbeat or two, it was deafeningly silent. Even the chains on Ex’s wrists made no sound, so still was he from where he sat and craned his neck up to meet Doc’s eyes.

“I’m here,” Doc said, voice so low and calm it was eerie, “Because I can’t let you out, but I _can_ join you _in here_. I don’t believe you’re so horrible that you deserve to be left to rot in the void forever. But I’m starting to think that that’s what you _want_ with the way you’re acting. You’re not in here because we unanimously decided we hated you that much.”

Ex had barely gotten a single sound out before Doc was already cutting off his attempted reply.

“No. Don’t argue with me. That’s not why you’re here and we both know it. You’re here because you don’t know how to ask for companionship, so you hurt people until they can’t ignore you. You try to destroy something they can’t ignore being destroyed. Xisuma gave you a chance and let you do as you pleased for a while, but you couldn’t drop that façade you’ve built up. You wear it like you wear that armour of yours, you use it as a defence to hide yourself because you don’t know how to interact with people in any other way, and then you blame them when they get tired of that.

“I’m not telling you to trust me, I’m not even telling you to tolerate me. If you don’t like me, fine, you don’t have to. But you’re not even _trying_. You’ll curse me for feeding you and building you a throne because you’d rather be shunned like a king than loved for being just like us peasants.”

The following silence fell heavy over them, mingling in the creeping darkness around. The flickering of the lonely torch seemed muted, suddenly. Then, Doc saw Ex’s hands move, he saw the chains swing, but all he could hear was a deafening clap of thunder ripping through his eardrums as a bolt of lightning tore through his body. 

It was not the worst thing he’d ever experienced, although it was far from leaving him cold. And it was far from Ex’s full capability too, but whatever power it was that allowed him to just will lightning strikes to happen seemed diminished, seeing as he was chained and trapped in a void-dimension.

His ears were ringing, his body was all of a sudden filled with a terrible ache and his vision was blurry. His shoulder _hurt_ and his face was even worse. The downsides of metal body parts. He was not sure he could walk if he tried. But he had gotten the message, loud and clear and painful, and he was not one to ask for clarifications.

For a couple more seconds he stared down into Ex’s eyes that were as cold as they had been when he’d first found him. He was _not_ stalling to gather himself!

Without a word, teeth grit as he willed himself to walk with as sure a step he could muster, Doc turned around, grabbed his things and picked up his torch, leaving Ex behind in the darkness. As soon as his feet touched the grass on the familiar side of the portal, his knees buckled and he breathed out heavily. Time to find himself a health potion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ex being allowed to do as he pleased for a while: [HERE](https://youtu.be/B-tuWHozOlY)


	3. Keralis

‘Ping!’ went the communicator. Doc glanced down at it. Ever since he’d gotten struck by Ex’s lightning, it had been randomly going off without any discernible cause. Well, a couple too many volts on the circuits could have that effect. Maybe he should look into getting a replacement.

‘Ping!’

Doc sighed and turned his attention back on the much more pressing issue of the sudden appearance of drones in the sky above Area 77, and the fact that they were very clearly ConCorp-branded. Scar next to him was shaking his head in disbelief. 

“What are we even going to do about this, man?”

Scar just kind of shrugged and made his way back to the main camp. Doc followed with a sigh. He had a feeling that Scar, for all that his angry eyebrows were worth, would have a hard time confronting his business partners about this.

‘Ping!’

“What is going on with that communicator of yours today, Doc? It’s been going off nonstop!”

“I don’t know man, I think it glitched out somehow, it’s really weird.”

They’d reached the grassy plains of their base of operation once more and Scar had stopped to eye the broken portal. Doc felt a sudden lump in his throat. 

“I don’t know what’s weirder around here. The UFOs that are flying over – well, drones, that is – or this portal that’s missing parts. How is this working out, what kind of technology are you using, Doc? This is amazing!”

“Well yeah, well, alien technology of course. I mean – I wouldn’t go through, I have no idea where this links to,” he rambled, rather too quickly for his own liking, but Scar didn’t seem to notice his sudden jump in nervousness. And he wasn’t technically lying, either – if Scar _did_ go through, he would likely find himself falling right back out of it in some strange location or another. 

Would Ex let Scar find him in the void? Did he even have the control over these things that Doc assumed he had?

He shook off the train of thought before it came fully of the rails and quickly redirected the conversation back to the issue at hand.

“But, yeah, we have a new problem: drones! What is going on, do you think it’s Cub?”

Now it was on Scar to become defensive again. “Well, I told you, you know, Concorp policy was to – “

‘Ping!’ 

This communicator was going to drive him insane. As soon as he had some time, he was going to fix this thing, or just get working on a brand new one altogether.

He had to pull his focus back onto what Scar was saying once more.

“– it’s true. It’s internal problems.”

“Yeah great, and now I have ‘em here all in my sky, your internal problems. Is there a way to shoot them down, man?”

Scar chuckled at that. A little bit of joking always worked wonders to mask nervousness.

‘Ping!’

“We’re gonna have to build some kind of EMP-jammer,” Scar said matter-of-factly, as if he hadn’t just come up with that term on the fly. 

‘Ping!’

Doc broke into a grin. 

‘Ping!’

“A jammer?” he asked amused, “Aw man, now I need to talk to the aliens again!”

But as he was still making his joke, he could already feel his face drop at what he saw unfold behind scar. 

There was a figure in the portal.

“Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

It was not Ex – was it? It didn’t look like Ex. He paid no attention to Scar behind him as he rushed forward, trident at the ready, his jaw tight and his whole body tense as if he’d been struck by lightning all over again.

“Who are you!”

“I’m Keralis!”

Keralis? Keralis hadn’t been around since… since… 

He faintly remembered Xisuma talking about him vanishing into oblivion when they had moved worlds, and he had been too busy worrying about his first world jump to really pay much attention to that. But that had been ages ago. 

If this was…

Without a second thought, he let the trident whiz through the air and the figure fell limp to the floor. Well… nothing a splash potion couldn’t fix.

Doc stared at the unconscious figure behind the thick glass wall and pulled up the tab menu on his communicator once again. 

Scar, Stress, Mumbo, Cleo, Iskall, Wels, Keralis, it said. Quite a list.

For the hundredth time, Doc refreshed it. 

Keralis.

And again.

Keralis.

According to the tab list, that was indeed Keralis. But… how? 

Doc groaned and put the communicator away. 

‘Ping!’, it said immediately. He glanced at it.

Iskall85: < Hey Mumbo, can I borrow some iron? >

With a sigh, he stared at the glowing letters. At least it still did its job when actual messages did arrive.

MumboJumbo: < Sure. A dinky amount. >

Iskall85: < ok lol >

Doc chuckled. It was good to see the regular madness continue as it usually did, even though his own personal madness seemed to be of a somewhat more unorthodox kind at the minute.

Scar joined him at the window.

“What are we going to do with him?”

“We’ve splashed him with some health and regeneration and gave him some supplies to use in there. He’ll be fine for now, I just wanna make double-sure that we don’t have something really crazy on our hands.”

“I mean… the communicator says that’s Keralis. And he didn’t seem very dangerous.”

“No,” Doc agreed, casting another look at the presumed Keralis. “But Scar, man he came out of a portal that I don’t even know where it goes. I thought it was too unstable to be used as a normal one.”

He was the king of white lies. 

“Well… this doesn’t seem very normal, I’ll give you that for sure.”

“Let’s just keep an eye on him for a while. If it’s nothing, he’s going to be inconvenienced at worst.”

Scar slowly nodded in assent.

“What about the portal? Should we break it?”

“It’s already broken, dude.”

Scar chuckled. “No, I mean, should we tear it down? Turn it off? Un-portalize it?”

Doc hesitated for a moment. They probably _should_ , yes, but…

He thought of the lonely figure, chained in the dark, clasping an apple.

“That might be worse.”

Scar frowned. “Worse?”

‘Ping!’ said the communicator. Doc collected himself.

“I mean, it doesn’t seem to behave like a regular portal. What if it explodes if we try to break it more? Or whatever it is that portals like that do when you mess with them. I’m not sure we should risk it.”

Scar hummed in thoughtful agreement. “You’re the portal-master.”

“And you’re a peddler of internal problems.”

“Aw, hey, come on – ”

And just that easy, they were back in safe banter territory. Would-be-Keralis remained asleep and soon, with night crawling across the sky, one Hermit after another began to join him. Scar and Doc agreed that it was probably safe to do the same. Area 77 was highly secured, after all.

Finally, the tab list began to clear out. Doc had busied himself with the construction of a new communicator – it had been long overdue anyways, really, his old one had seen several world jumps already and it was no wonder that it was beginning to slip up. The new one that he was now pulling the tab list from looked foreign on his arm, so shiny and polished was it. And it appeared to be working perfectly.

Only Zedaph and Scar were now remaining – well and the presumably still unconscious Keralis – but only seconds later, a quiet little ‘ping!’ disrupted the relative silence. It was a much less aggravating sound than the old communicator had produced. 

< GoodTimesWithScar left the game >

Doc felt himself relax. With Scar still around, he’d been uneasy, like he could somehow still be watching him from some hidden corner and see him slip away and through the ripped portal. Though now, an entirely new tension got hold of him, because Doc knew that now, he could not put it off any longer to try and go through.

To see if he’d find the chains hanging empty and the stone chair vacant. Maybe with a single red apple sitting on it, glowing scarlet in the black void, waiting for him to discover it. 

Doc shook his head and grabbed his supplies to head out. No point dwelling on all the wild scenarios his head could come up with. He had to find out the truth. Now.

It had been days since he’d left after Ex’s temper tantrum. More than a week, for sure, maybe closer to two weeks. Definitely closer to two weeks. With a tight throat and every muscle tensed up, Doc stepped through the portal. 

Once again, he relaxed only to be met with a whole new kind of tension when he found himself in the darkness of the void-dimension. So it did still lead here. 

In the distance, he could see an ever so faint red glow. His heart began to beat so feverishly, Doc was sure it was trying to jump out of his chest and make a run for it by itself if he wasn’t going to turn his body around himself. And yet, he continued to walk forward. 

The chains came into view, and the chair, and out of the darkness, like a butterfly from a cocoon, emerged Ex’s silhouette. He sat, with his legs pulled up to his chest, curled in one corner of the chair. Cradled to his chest almost lovingly was the apple.

“Hello, Ex,” Doc said, the words strangely reminiscent of their first meeting. Ex didn’t move, but Doc knew he had heard him.

“You came back again” said Ex, but there was no bite in it. Doc let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding. 

“Yeah. Uh. Interesting developments outside, man.”

“You found him then?”

Doc felt like a bowstring being held at its uttermost maximum tension. “Who?”

“Keralis.”

He almost collapsed in on himself. Ex was still here and he _knew_. Finally, Ex turned to look at him. Doc only barely held his gaze.

“Where’d you find him?” Ex asked.

“He came right out the portal, just. Hopped right through like it was the most normal thing.”

Ex – was he smiling? He was smiling, wasn’t he?

“He just showed up,” he said, eyes vacant as if he was recalling an ancient memory. “Came out of the dark from behind me and asked me what that portal led to. I don’t think he even realized that if I had anything more than a vague answer for him, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here anymore.”

“Where did you say it led?”

Ex looked away again, turning the apple in his hands. “To you.”

Doc swallowed heavily. 

“To me,” he repeated. Ex gave him a disgruntled look. “Well, it was the best I could say. I don’t really know where this thing goes!”

“Can you affect it? I always come back out where I went in, but when Xisuma used it, he fell onto Central Station.”

“I haven’t really tried. When Xisuma came in – I don’t know, it’s hard to explain when you don’t know what it is already, I just. I knew before he was even through that I had to get him back out again, because if he knew that there was any way at all that connected me to the outside world, he’d make damn sure that I would never catch another glimpse of it one way or another.”

Ex paused, then with his eyes looking anywhere but at Doc, he said: “Don’t just stand there like the big oaf you are. Sit.”

Doc raised his eyebrows. “Promise you won’t turn me into toast this time?”

“If you can keep your unruly mouth shut when you speak to your king this time around.”

Doc laughed and squeezed himself onto the stone chair. They just barely both fit onto it without having to do too many acrobatics. Ex was still not meeting his eyes, instead staring absentmindedly into the endless darkness ahead. Doc quietly resolved to do the same, and they sat in silence for a while. Finally, Doc spoke again.

“How did you know it was a chunk-rip portal?”

“I figured it was likely because I got Xisuma to fall back out. It’s how I used to spook him by disappearing in lightning a bunch back in the day, by slipping through chunk borders. Or well, that’s what I think I did, anyways. I don’t really know what I’m doing, I just know that I can do it.”

Doc hummed in response.

“Hey, Doc?” Ex asked after another long pause.

“Hm?”

“I’m hungry.”

Doc turned to look at him. He’d never taken the time to really _look_ at Ex’s face up close. The only other times he’d been close enough, they had been hissing and snarling at each other like angry feral cats, too caught up in locking their metaphorical horns to focus on superficialities.

Doc could see faint scars across Ex’s face – the X shaped ones that met on the bridge of his nose that he usually knew in shades of purple, shining at him from Xisuma’s face so often that he barely noticed them anymore. But then there was another one, running across Ex’s right eye and up to where his hairline had to be. His skin looked incredibly white, even through the pale red of the visor. 

“…want help with your kitty-cone?” Doc asked a little belatedly, and Ex rolled his eyes. Pale, piercing eyes. 

“There’s a latch at the back of the helmet,” he said, pointedly ignoring Doc’s comment. “It should just pull up and release, but it’s stuck and I can’t get it to move.”

“Turn around,” Doc said and shifted around so that he could get a better look at the armour. Ex turned his back towards him. One of the chains pulled tight across Doc’s upper arm. He could see the latch Ex had mentioned and gently tried it, but as expected, it didn’t budge. His hand seemed too big for the task. Ex was holding so still as if he had turned to stone.

“It’s caught…”

“Really?!”

Doc prodded at the mechanism, trying to find the point of resistance. There was a little give to the latch. In between the tiny opening he could get out of it, something gleamed at him.

“It’s – hold on, do I – I don’t have shears on me, let me get some.”

“Shears? What, you gonna cut me out of it?”

“No,” Doc said with a chuckle, “But I think it’s caught on your hair. I’d go for a less destructive approach, but I’m not nimble-fingered enough for that, and I’m also not sure that wouldn’t just make it worse.”

He untangled himself from the chain that was still digging into his arm and hopped off the chair. “I’ll be right back, I just don’t carry shears around. Don’t need them, usually.”

“Bring a crossword, too. It gets incredibly dull in here when you’re not there to bother me.”

Doc grinned and turned towards the portal. “Wow, we’re almost approaching compliment territory here!” 

He was already halfway out of his storage again, holding a pair of shears, when he paused. On the workbench, frayed cables sticking into the air, lay his battered old communicator. For a couple of seconds, Doc stared at it, telling himself that this was a terrible idea, a dangerous idea. But it was only a few tweaks, really. A fifteen-minute-job at most. A bit of coding, a little reprogramming to block off access to all the main channels, except for one line between this communicator and his new one. It was easy.

Ignoring his common sense that told him to be careful, to be cautious, to not let himself become soft, he grit his teeth and went to work.

Barely fifteen minutes later, just like he’d thought, he was done. The communicator now only allowed messages specifically to and from his new one to go through, and apart from the fact that it still pinged for no discernible reason every now and again, it seemed to work perfectly. Doc stood at his workbench for a moment longer, eyes fixed on the device in his hand, still hooked up to external wires to power it. Staring intently at the glowing screen, he pulled them out and watched the light fade away. Then he let out a heavy breath, stuffed it into his designated shulker box full of tools and, grasping it a little too tightly, went on his way. 

Stepping back through the portal was beginning to feel entirely too comfortable. Despite the long periods that lay between his visits, it was beginning to feel as familiar as stepping into his base did, and he wasn’t entirely sure that was all that good.

Ex was lazily draped across his little throne of stone, head propped up on one hand, and watching him return. In his other hand, he still held the apple. Somehow, the way he seemed to not be willing to let go of it for even a second was making Doc feel a whole lot of things. He had an inkling that he was beginning to like the bastard a bit too much for comfort.

“Welcome back. You may approach,” Ex said in a deadpan voice. Doc laughed and fished the shears out of the pocket in his lab coat. 

“Scoot, your majesty.”

Ex gave a theatrical groan and assumed the position Doc had left him in – seated sideways, with his back to the seat. Doc squeezed in behind him, ducking under the chains.

„Right, I’m not a hairdresser, so do forgive me if I cut off your lucky strand.”

“I’ve not had one of those in a while, you’re good.”

Doc shifted his focus on the latch again and, after a while of fiddling, managed to wedge the blade of the shears into the gap between the helmet closure in such a way that it allowed him to cut the offending hair. With a click, the latch sprang open.

There was another one of those pauses. “Well, there you go. You’re free,” Doc said, breaking the silence and tucking away his shears again. “Of the helmet, anyways. You could take it off now. Or, you know, when I’ve gone.”

“Thanks,” Ex said, with that stiff little voice that betrayed how much he didn’t want to follow the rules of polite communication. “I’ll try to get it back on before you stick your nose into my void again next time.”

And there was the opportunity. A cue so perfect, it seemed like it was written for Doc specifically to take advantage of it. It still seemed like a terrible idea. But…

“About that.”

Oh, damn it. Damn it all to hell. 

Doc slipped out of the chair and rummaged through his pockets until he found his shulker. “I… I’ve worked on it a bit, so…”

He trailed off when he pulled out his old communicator, kind of just holding it out to act as the explanation he did not have. He could see Ex’s eyes going wide. 

“You – have you lost your mind? Why would you – why? _Why?!_ ”

Doc shrugged. The situation was strangely uncomfortable. He was crossing a whole new line here, and he and Ex both knew it.

“I’ve got a new one. It’s gone off a bunch for no reason lately, and it’s _old_ , man, but… you know, it works. I’ve tweaked it a bit, to block you out from accessing our regular channels, but… you, uh, you could let me know if you have your helmet on or… or, you know, if you’re hungry.”

The explanation was weak, and he knew it. Ex stared at him like he was trying to bore holes into him.

“You’d give me that, to tell you if I’m _hungry_. You’d go behind Xisuma’s back – ”

“He’s not my _dad!_ ” Doc interjected. He sounded awfully defiant. “He’s my friend, he’s not my – he – he doesn’t _control_ – ” 

“He’s the _admin_ ,” Ex shot back. His voice was cold, and his eyes hard. “He’s the _authority_ on what can and can’t be done, and this – he’s very _clearly_ decided that I can’t have one.” 

He shook his left arm, making the chains rattle. The dead wires caught flashes of the red light emitting from his helmet.

“Since when do you care what Xisuma decides?!”

“Since when do you _not_ care?!” Ex shot back. “What could possibly be your motivation for so blatantly disregarding his judgement?!”

“He’s not infallible,” Doc grumbled. “He’s just a guy. A smart guy with a lot of responsibility, but still, a regular guy. Just because he thinks something should be a certain way doesn’t mean that’s true or that I agree just because _he_ says it.”

Ex stared at him incredulously. “So you’re going to undermine him in my favour, simply because you’ve finally come to the brilliant conclusion that he can be wrong?!”

“What are you arguing with me for?! This has no downsides for you! You’re already in here. You would not be the one to take the fall for it, I would!”

“Yes, because becoming like _me_ would be a _far_ fall for you.”

Doc was seconds away from just throwing in the towel since this was going down _that_ road of tantrums again, when Ex continued.

“I doubt you’d end up chained in the void, but you’d pay a high price for it if anyone – if Xisuma found out you were equipping me with access to the overworld, even if it’s just remote. And part of that price would be you not coming back here.”

Doc stared at him. There was no sneer in Ex’s voice, no dry laugh like he really couldn’t care less whether Doc came back or not. He blinked. 

“Since when do you care whether or not I come back? I remember you blasting me with lightning for saying you want friends not too long ago.”

Ex tensed up just enough for Doc to catch the shift in his posture. 

“I don’t – ” he began, then he closed his eyes, took a deep, audible breath and looked back at Doc with a kind of grim determination. “I did, and I’m – well, I’m not really all that sorry, but I will – I will apologize. I – you – you weren’t, well, _wrong_ , but you don’t get to stand there and accuse me of, of being some kind of villain who only tries to torment people into giving me what I want. _But –_ ”, he took another breath, as if he had to will himself past some invisible blockade that was making the words so much more difficult to say, “But. I was – I was worried that – I really thought you weren’t going to come back.

“I thought I was going to be left all alone, all over again, after you – after you offered me what you could. I’m not stupid, Doc, I know that even if you could just get me out of these chains and back into the overworld that easily, you should and would not do it. I’m… really lucky you managed to break into this void _and_ decided to give me the benefit of the doubt. It’s not fun, being effectively left for dead like this.”

Now it was on Doc to close his eyes and breathe for a moment. He had not expected Ex to be so… so what, really? Honest? Open? 

“Don’t get me wrong,” he heard Ex continue in his usual snarky tone, prompting him to open his eyes again. Ex was giving him a deadpan look. “I still don’t think that me spreading some chaos justifies putting me in here. You guys move worlds regularly anyways, I feel like if the one you’re leaving descends into fire then at least you have a good reason to.”

Doc couldn’t help the smirk that crept across his face. He stepped back up to the stone chair and knelt at the side of it, repositioning Ex’s arm on the side rest so that he could inspect the old wiring sticking out of his arm plate. It wasn’t even all that bad – a bit of dusting off would do half the trick already.

“Then prove it,” he said, gently holding Ex’s arm in place when he tried to pull it away. His metal hand seemed just a bit too large against Ex’s wrist, even with his armour. “Prove that you don’t belong in here. If we can trust you – if _I_ can trust you – then it won’t be a problem giving you this. I’ve modified it so you can’t use it to message anyone but me anyways.”

“There’s nothing but a few lines of coding and a bit of time between me and all the overworld channels as soon as that thing powers on,” Ex said, one last half-hearted attempt at swaying Doc’s resolve. Doc just hummed his agreement. “I know. I can’t stop you from trying to undo my safety measures, and it’s not like we’re not both aware of the fact that you’re more than capable of it. But you’ve made it very clear that you’re also aware of the consequences if you do. So…”

The communicator slotted into place and a faint light on it showed that it was powered. Doc let go of Ex’s arm. 

“…I sure hope you won’t mess with it.”

“Why do you trust me?” Ex asked, voice barely more than a whisper. Doc looked at him, feeling like he might have just made a terrible mistake. But it was too late now. It was done.

“I don’t.”

Ex’s expression did not change. Doc patted his arm one more time before getting back up again and slowly starting to walk back towards the portal. “But I could, and now I have no choice but to hope that I will.”

“You can always rip it back out.”

“I won’t.”

Something in Ex’s eyes gleaned. Something like a challenge. “What makes you so sure?” 

Doc grinned. “Curiosity.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doc and Scar discussing the portal only to be interrupted by ~~Keralis~~ an alien: [HERE](https://youtu.be/dkXEQbKAVkU?t=122)
> 
> A dinky amount: Based on a conversation Mumbo and Iskall had during a live stream which can be found [HERE](https://youtu.be/-07GfG0jXJs?t=2605) (the link goes right to the point in the stream at which the convo starts)  
> Alternatively, [HERE](https://youtu.be/W51TOLOAIS8?t=78) is a very nicely edited cut version in a compilation 
> 
> Keralis just showing up in the void is based on [Keralis' late entry to season 6](https://youtu.be/EgsldP8foyg) after being inactive for ages


	4. Hungry

‘Ping!’

Doc glanced at his communicator. They’d only just gotten out of the hippie camp with that monster of an engine Renbob had previously had strapped to his RV. Scar was off to take care of the Scara sprout by putting it into a containment chamber somewhere in the bowels of the main building. 

EvilXisuma: < Doc I’m hungry >

Doc grinned. It had become the regular way Ex started conversations with him. Ever since he’d returned to the newly communicator-possessing Ex with a couple of fresh apples after they’d released and subsequently lost track of Keralis – a chain of events Ex had been quite interested in having recounted to him – he’d been getting invitations back into the void like this. He understood perfectly well that this was Ex’s way of asking him to come and alleviate his boredom for a while, but had decided to do him the favour of not pointing out that Ex appeared to still be absolutely incapable of asking for company like a normal person. Nevermind the fact that Doc was dropping by to visit him almost every night at this point.

Docm77: < At 77 with Scar, got some updates. Hippies seem super sus >

EvilXisuma: < Duh, they’re hippies. All that peace and love stuff >

EvilXisuma: < Gross. 0/10 not enough explosions >

Doc rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but grin at that. Of course. 

Docm77: < With Grian over there I wouldn’t be so sure, he’s like the marginally more sfw version of you >

EvilXisuma: < If he gets voided at least I’ll get a neighbour >

Doc’s grin widened. Yeah, those two together would definitely need to be contained. 

‘Ping!’

GoodTimesWithScar: < Doc help >

GoodTimesWithScar: < I’m trapped in the sprout >

Doc’s eyebrows shot up. How on earth had Scar managed to – nevermind, he was Scar. Of course he had trouble with a plant.

Docm77: < omw >

He switched back to the messaging channel he shared with Ex. He’d have to go back to entertaining himself for a while.

Docm77: < Gotta go, Scar’s being scar. Apple delivery asap! >

EvilXisuma: < asap faster! >

Doc closed the communicator screen and, with an amused shake of his head, went to help out Scar. Patience sure was a virtue, and Ex was thoroughly lacking it. 

It was inhumanly late when Doc finally got done with everything the day demanded of him. From herding iron golems to dealing with further hippie shenanigans, everything seemed to drag itself out almost painfully and leave a mess to clean up. 

When he made his way to the portal, only False’s name still remained on the tab list – whatever she was doing this late had to be frightful. Then again, False was a force to be reckoned with.

Docm77: < Ready or not, apples are coming your way >

EvilXisuma: < 1 min >

Doc lingered next to the portal. They had an unspoken agreement for Doc to wait for Ex’s okay, now that he could take the helmet off again. Knowing Xisuma, and seeing the similarities the two would never admit to sharing, Doc had made a point to give Ex the same heads up he gave Xisuma when he was about to stick his head into their respective dwelling spaces. Why Ex and Xisuma both so adamantly refused to be seen without their headgear was something Doc had yet to understand, but at the moment he really could not bring himself to care anyways. He was just too tired.

EvilXisuma: < Okay, do your worst >

With a yawn, Doc stepped through the portal. Ex was still closing the latch on his helmet.

“Wow, you look… _so_ tired.”

“I am,” Doc replied with another yawn, tossing an apple in Ex’s general direction. He caught it with the precision of a scorpion that was burying its stinger in its victim. “Just one?”

“I brought a shulker, you brat. There’s some more stuff in there, too,” Doc grumbled sympathetically, setting the shulker box down next to Ex’s chair. Ex manoeuvred himself so he could sit on the armrest, legs dangling over it, and began rummaging through the shulker. His left arm looked uncomfortably twisted behind him with the way he had to stretch it back, since the chain maxed out too early for him to really leave his little throne by more than maybe a step.

Doc ducked under Ex’s arm and squeezed himself into the stony seat, where he listened with closed eyes to the sounds of Ex inspecting his newest delivery. If it hadn’t been for the very obvious fact that he was still chained in place in an empty void, Doc would have said that Ex was beginning to get spoiled. He yawned again, leaning into the hard backrest. He’d have to get back soon.

Doc woke up to his arm having fallen asleep where it was wedged between his body and the stone of the chair. Ex’s head was resting on his right shoulder, where the metal arm connected to the rest of his body. He didn’t react to Doc moving under him. 

A glance at the communicator showed that it was still way too early to consider the night over. Ex was slumped against his side fast asleep, and after some careful readjusting of his position, for all the stone chair was worth Doc was far too comfortable to get up and make the way back to his base. He hesitated for a moment, then he slung his arm around the sleeping figure at his side and closed his eyes again. Had he been awake, Ex would most definitely have complained, but oh well. What Ex didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. 

When Doc woke up once more, it was to his communicator making an incessant amount of pinging noises. Bleary-eyed, he looked around himself. He had half slipped off the chair in his sleep and one of the chains was brushing his cheek. On his chest, still curled under his silver arm, Ex was beginning to move. 

“Jeez, what is the problem out there!”

He stilled for a moment and Doc swore he could feel the realization hitting him by proxy. Ex’s helmeted head turned upwards. “…Doc?“ 

“Morning, sunshine,” he replied simply, lifting his arm so Ex could straighten himself. “Nice of you to share your throne for the night.”

“Don’t expect me to always be that graceful. You looked like death so I figured I’d let you sleep.”

His voice was stiff, but Doc just grinned and stretched his arms. He’d let him off this time, if only because having Ex worry about his own embarrassment might distract him from the fact that Doc, too, felt a bit awkward about the whole situation. “Thanks, man. Appreciate it.”

He pulled up the communicator screen. Most of the conversation that had made the communicator go nuts had been between Grian and Ren who, in words that were cryptic to him to varying degrees, seemed to be hatching some sort of plan – which apparently involved trying to rope Impulse into their flowery nonsense. Might be a good idea to keep an eye on that. But then, interspersed with silly hippie talk, there also was…

Xisuma: < Tab’s been weird lately right? Or is that just me? >

Stressmonster101: < Normal for me? I fink? >

Renthedog: < Try and flush it >

Grian: < It’s a very complicated process though, I gotta warn you >

Grian: < So much redstone >

Xisuma: < Can you guys tell me real quick if you see Doc on? >

Grian: < Yeah? >

Renthedog: < ya >

Stressmonster101: < ye >

ImpulseSV: < yup. >

Xisuma: < Doc?? U there? >

It had to have been a little while since he’d asked it, and given the amount of messages that had come through in such quick succession afterwards, it didn’t really make sense for him to not have noticed his communicator going off like mad… even if he was really busy. Unless…

“Ex?”

Ex, who had been pointedly busy with the shulker box yet again paused and turned around. “Yeah?”

“Can you make the portal drop me someplace random?”

Ex’s eyebrows shot up. “I can try. Why?”

Doc held the communicator screen up so he could see it. “Portal business seems like a good excuse, but I kind of want to keep them thinking it just drops you at random.”

Ex nodded slowly. “Okay?”

“It’s… I don’t _like_ lying about it, but me selling the narrative that this thing is too unpredictable to be used but _also_ too unstable to destroy is my safest bet to keep people clear of it at the moment, I think.”

Ex nodded once more. “Okay, okay. I don’t know if I can really… control it all that well, I’ve only done it when Xisuma came in. Where did that drop him again?”

“Central station.”

“Mhm…”

A weak bolt of lightning flashed through the darkness. Ex grumbled. “I hate how weak these are in here. But there you go, I think that worked. Don’t fall into lava.”

Doc laughed and got off the chair. “I’ll try.”

‘Ping!’, the communicator went again.

“I’ll be back!”

“Try not to fall asleep. Hate sharing my throne with you peasant,” Ex huffed jokingly. Doc wrapped his arm around him for a quick half hug before he turned to leave. “Sure you do, cuddlebug.”

“Call me that again and I will strike you with lightning until you’re burned to a crisp.”

“Just drop me in lava, dude.”

He heard Ex laugh behind him, then the floor below him vanished and, after a few seconds of nothingness, he found himself plummeting into the ocean, only narrowly avoiding Cleo’s ship. He should have known to have his rockets ready. 

‘Ping!’

Chuckling to himself, he swam his way to Scar’s island where he just let himself fall into the sand at the bottom of the giant volcano and opened the communicator again to finally let the other Hermits have a sign of life from him.

Grian: < Doc got thanos’d >

Xisuma: < If I gotta wrangle the code again… >

Docm77: < Don’t panic X I’m right here >

Xisuma: < Jeez, would it kill you to reply once in a while? >

Docm77: < Love you too. Had limbo probs, come to Scar’s volcano if you wanna discuss >

Xisuma: < sigh >

Xisuma: < OMW >

Doc sighed. He already knew it was going to be a long day again, given how he hadn’t gotten anything done thus far and now he had to try and weasel his way through another one of those conversations with Xisuma. God, he hated lying to his friends. But even though he was beginning to trust Ex to be more than just an explosive nuisance at this point, he still didn’t want to risk it quite yet to tell Xisuma about his… well, his what? Void-dimension friendship?

Xisuma was a reasonable guy. Doc assumed he trusted his judgement and would be willing to listen if Doc insisted on Ex having undergone some sort of strange redemption arc. And yet… 

He switched to his other messaging channel. He felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he was in fact doing exactly what Ex had prophesied him to do: going behind Xisuma’s back. He was going behind everyone’s back, really, but Xisuma being the one in charge of the code kind of made it feel like a special kind of betrayal there.

Docm77: < If you’re hungry, don’t tell me. Meeting X in a bit >

EvilXisuma: < Blow him up for me >

EvilXisuma: < Jk. But maybe move his nether portal just enough to the left that it doesn’t link anymore lol >

Docm77: < I will not be your way to remotely cause chaos! >

EvilXisuma: < Get me in touch with that Grian guy. From what you’ve told me, he’s the perfect candidate to pass on the mayhem. If I teach him my chunk-slippy ways, we’ll be unstoppable! >

Docm77: < Speaking of your chunk-shenanigans… since you do that a lot does that make you a >

Docm77: < Chunky boy? >

EvilXisuma: < You’re banned from my void. >

Doc laughed loudly at that. He wished he could have seen the absolute indignation he was sure had to have come over Ex’s face when he’d read a pun that awful. 

On the horizon, he could see a silhouette approaching him. 

Docm77: < Okay. Unban me later, X is here >

He quickly switched back to the regular messaging channel and had only just closed out of it again when Xisuma already landed next to him.

“You’ve been messing with that portal again, have you?”

“Hello Xisuma, it’s good to see you too,” Doc deadpanned. 

Xisuma smiled, but said nothing. Doc let out a defeated sigh. “Yeah, you got me man. I’m just curious about it, it’s such a unique thing and who’s to say I’ll manage to do it again like that? Even if I make another one, it might act completely differently.”

“Goodness me, you’ve been on about that thing a lot recently, huh.”

It wasn’t a question. Doc hesitated for a moment. He knew Xisuma wasn’t here to lecture him. Hell, he wasn’t even bothered, let alone mad. But Doc had a guilty conscience, and as such he expected to get called out on it at every turn.

“Here and there. Why?”

“I’ve been checking the tab list occasionally and I saw your name on it a lot, especially late at night when there was nobody else there. And you never said anything, never had anything to show for the crazy hours you were obviously pulling, so I was starting to get a bit curious what you were up to all the time.”

“What are you doing up checking the tab list at those ungodly hours?” Doc asked, genuinely perplexed. 

Xisuma laughed. “Admin duties, my friend! I check up on the systems and keep track if the code is behaving itself. I assumed you were off fighting the limbo somewhere, because I do these things when there’s nobody else active for a reason. Can get the systems out of whack quite a bit, especially if a problem does turn up and I need to configure things back into working order. You’ve been completely unaffected by any of it, or if you _have_ been affected, you haven’t said a single thing about it, which I doubt you would do if I was interfering with you to the point that I would have been.”

Doc just blinked a couple of times. He had no real reply to any of this – Xisuma had caught him red-handed, so to speak, and he had been none the wiser this entire time. He laughed and patted Xisuma’s shoulder. 

“Nothing slips past you Xisuma. I’ve been fiddling with it, yeah. Been doing it at inhumane hours for much the same reasons you wait for us to go to sleep before you deal with those things I didn’t know you did until just now – wanted to minimise the risk of interfering with anyone. It’s weird though that I never noticed anything. I’ve been mostly busy with mapping out where it dropped me.”

The lie came so easily, Doc winced internally. God, he hated lying to his friends. White lies about where the portal lead, why not to get close to it – he could explain those away as technical truths. But this was just a straight-up lie, no way around it. Would he ever stop going in circles about this in his head?

“And what do your studies conclude?”

“Nothing, to be honest. It just spits you out places after a while. Always seems to be the overworld though.”

“No issues with limbo-dimensions?”

“Nah, why?”

Xisuma gave him a pointed look. “Because I recall having to teleport you out of one back when you first built that thing. Between that and seeing you on the tab list every night for no apparent reason… I’d hate for you to get stuck somewhere and me not know.”

He was worried for him, wasn’t he. Now Doc just felt even worse.

“Xisuma, man I’ll be fine. It was only one time. It’s way less unpredictable than it was at the start, and now I understand it a lot better too. I’ve got a pretty good handle on it by now.”

Was he talking about the portal… or Ex? Doc forced the thought to pass him by. Xisuma still didn’t look quite satisfied. “You’re not mad at me for asking, are you?” he said, and Doc frowned. “Of course not, why?”

“I’m not used to you using my full name that much.”

Doc froze. He hadn’t even thought of that. Talking to Ex as much as he had recently, it had become quite normal for him to use Xisuma’s full name instead of its abbreviation, given that they sounded the same. 

He blinked. “Have I done that?” he asked, unable to think of a better reaction other than pretending to not have noticed that he was behaving differently than usual. Well, he hadn’t noticed before, but the reason for it was of no help to him now.

Now it was on Xisuma to frown. “Yes? You’ve called me X for as long as we’ve known each other because you insist my name is difficult.”

“Your name is ridiculous, who starts their name off with an X! German has like, only one word that starts with an X for a reason, and that is that we tried that and said yeah, never again.” Doc gave him a lopsided smile. “I don’t know what to tell you man, I wasn’t doing it on purpose.”

Even though Xisuma had to look up to meet his gaze, Doc felt like he was being stared down as the familiar eyes, tinted purple by the visor, bore into his. Faintly, he could see the crossed scars meeting on the bridge of Xisuma’s nose. He looked at Doc thoughtfully for a moment.

“Maybe I’m reading too much into it too, I don’t know. There’s been some weird stuff going on with you lately, Mr Doctorman, I gotta make sure you’re okay you know?”

Ah, there was that pang of guilt again that he was getting entirely too familiar with.

“Come on X, you know I can look after myself. I wouldn’t jump headfirst into something I didn’t feel like I could get myself out of again.”

“Let’s just forget about it,” Xisuma said with the usual light-hearted tone creeping back into his voice already. “Maybe I’ve not had enough sleep. Seeing ghosts from a couple of coincidences, I guess!”

He laughed, and Doc joined in. “No man, you’re right, I would’ve told you if I knew you’ve been losing sleep over it. I promise not to die on you so many times that I gotta rebuild my base at spawn.”

Xisuma snorted. “No spawn-bases allowed, that’s rule number one, jeez!”

“Is that really a rule though?”

“It is now! Now let’s get on with it, we’ve wasted enough time with this. Now that I know you hang out with Glados at night, my mind is at ease once more!”

“Yeah man, I really gotta go after that one, that was one awful joke if I ever heard one.”

Xisuma just laughed and zoomed off into the sky, only to plummet into the water almost immediately when his wings gave out. Huffing and puffing, he paddled his way back up to the surface. 

“One more – stop laughing! – one more thing. You got a spare elytra?”

Despite the late start, he got quite a bit of work done. Area 77 needed work all over the place all the time, so there was no shortage of projects to take on. Specifically, there were still some drones to be dealt with, as well as other stretches of the Area 77 border that were just way too unprotected against trespassers. And trespassers was a synonym for hippies these days.

As he was making his way to the least protected border, suddenly something went ‘splat!’ next to him and made him nearly jump out of his skin. 

‘Ping!’

< Xisuma fell from a high place >

Docm77: < ahm? >

Xisuma: < I’m okay… >

Docm77: < Need item collection? >

Xisuma: < Pls >

So, with a roll of his eyes, Doc spent five minutes gathering the strange assortment of things Xisuma apparently carried around with him – including more Totems of Undying than a man who had just divebombed out of the sky should have on him. This was embarrassing, really!

He had barely reached the border that he had meant to take a look at when, once again, something hit the ground next to him with enough speed to break bedrock. This time, totem particles flying in every direction did indeed point to Xisuma – because it _was_ obviously Xisuma, wearing an absolutely ridiculous suit – having remembered not only that he had about a thousand Totems of Undying, but also how they functioned. But that didn’t change the fact that he once again had scared the living daylights out of Doc, who had not expected it the first time, but even less so twice in a row.

Before he could even say anything, Xisuma had thrown a totem in his direction and zoomed back up into the skies and out of sight.

‘Visit the Totem of Undying Shop!’ said a little tag attached to the item Doc was now holding. He burst into laughter. 

Docm77: < I have a great story for you tonight >

EvilXisuma: < I hope it involves mayhem >

He had been slowly continuing his way alongside the border and now, just as Ex’s message popped up on his screen, the hippie camp came into view. And with it, a giant Redstone board that displayed a giant, glowing number three. Something was poking out of a massive hole in the ground. Weren’t they hippies? No unnatural machines allowed? And where on earth did they get all those resources?! 

Welp. Time to start dealing with that. But first – 

Docm77: < Of sorts. Details later – there’s hippie mischief underway it seems >

EvilXisuma: < Isn’t it always. Bring me a flower, I’ll strike it with lightning if it’ll make you feel better >

Docm77: < lol >

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doc and Scar's adventures in hippie camp, a.k.a. stealing Renbob's RV engine and the Scara sprout: [HERE](https://youtu.be/UJPuSKVjY9s)
> 
> "Try and flush it" and related references to hippie camp goings-on: [HERE](https://youtu.be/M9StiYxnnVY?t=660)
> 
> < Xisuma fell from a high place... again >: [HERE](https://youtu.be/fZPDfO4VZwE?t=1156)


	5. Flower

Doc did not bring Ex a flower to burn when he returned to the void time after time, although he did give a vivid recounting of Xisuma’s double-kamikaze operation that predictably provided Ex with great delight. 

Doc still didn’t bring Ex a flower to burn when the hippies’ countdown reached zero and from the massive hole in the ground of their camp, an RV of impressive – to not say scary – proportions launched into the sky, only to reset the countdown to four more days, during which Doc mostly just tried to get on with his tasks as if there wasn’t a giant flying vehicle looming ominously in the sky just off from their fenced in plains.

He didn’t even bring a flower to burn when he came out of one of the halls, trying to wrangle two foxes at once, only to see Grian and Ren, wearing the most ridiculous disguises known to man, and making away with the reactor he and Scar had retrieved from Renbob’s RV. In hindsight, they should really have brought that thing inside.

But then the countdown – now decked out in an admittedly beautiful wooden casing – reached zero once more and the airborne RV proved to be repository to a smaller RV-missile (what was it with these guys and RVs anyway?! And why had they drawn a _face_ on it?) that shot straight into the cliff housing their hangars. When the ruckus inevitably had them running outside, and they found themselves face to face with a frankly impressive amount of blooming flowers all over the entirety of Area 77, Doc already had a feeling that he had played right into their hands. Rushing back inside, with Scar branching off somewhere along the way to check on the various Jellies scattered throughout the building, as well as his precious Scara-sprout, Doc knew that he was too late before he saw the empty room. The time machine had vanished, leaving only smouldering metal piping behind.

While Scar was busy somewhere in the bowels of the building, Doc slipped back outside. An angry lump of defeat and frustration was stuck in his throat. With his teeth clenched at the heavy feeling of having been outplayed so thoroughly, he grabbed a handful of the tall flower stalks that lined his path and, after a quick glance over his shoulder, stepped through the portal. 

He found Ex in the light of a single torch, perched on the stone chair that by now had a layer of carpet on it for comfort, gnawing on an apple and holding a book Doc had left him at some point or another. His helmet, lacking the usual red lighting behind the visor, lay discarded at the foot of the chair.

Ex looked up and Doc froze. Long, white, unkempt hair hung in his startlingly pale face. The scars, healed and rosy as they were, seemed of an almost angry red in the midst of the white that surrounded them. 

Doc stared. “I, uh. Sorry, I didn’t – ”

He trailed off, not knowing where he was actually going with this. Ex set the book aside and slipped the last bite of apple into his mouth, core and all. He didn’t seem incredibly upset, but he continued to stare back at Doc without breaking eye contact even once. Finally, after he’d finished chewing, he spoke. Without the helmet on, his voice sounded clear as glass. “Finally brought me some flowers, I see.”

Doc’s eyes darted to the flower stalks in his hand and he couldn’t help but laugh. He had forgotten all about them already. 

“Yeah, uh. You – you offered to, uh, burn them a while ago, remember?”

“I do, actually. What did the flower crowns do that made you cash in on that?”

Doc still hadn’t moved from where he was standing. “They uh. Invaded. Got the time machine.”

Ex pulled a face. “Damn it Doc! You had one job! Didn’t you at least install a door? Some sort of a lock? They’re _hippies_ , how on earth did they outdo all your technological folderol?!”

“Really helping my mood here, thanks Ex. I was feeling too good about it.”

“Obviously, otherwise you would’ve installed some safety measures after they literally stole a nuclear reactor engine from under your nose.”

“Can you stop?!” Doc spat angrily. He hadn’t exactly expected to be comforted, but it had been long since Ex had been quite as openly hostile towards him. Suddenly, he saw a grin creep across Ex’s face. It was almost strange, having more than just his eyes to go off in order to guess his expression.

“I don’t know. Can you stop standing around like the big oaf that you are and come over here so I don’t have to shout at you?”

All of a sudden, Doc felt like someone had let the air out of him. Without another word, he trotted over and plopped down on an empty shulker that stood in front of the stone chair. 

“Finally, jeez. Come on, give me those.”

He grabbed the flowers out of Doc’s hand and with the smallest bolt of lightning, they went up in flames before his eyes. 

“There," he said, voice impossibly more gentle than Doc was used to. "Feel better?”

Doc chuckled weakly. “Not really. Some jerk decided he had to remind me of all the things I did wrong.”

Ex grinned. “Sounds sensible to me, that guy. He snapped you out of that stupor you were in.” 

Doc gave him a crooked smile and Ex sighed. “It’s fine that you came in when I had my helmet off. If it was a problem, I would’ve put it back on already. Nevermind the fact that you’ve done an atrocious amount of things for me that I don’t have the range of motion for in these dumb things.”

He shook his wrists and the chains clanked audibly. It had become a noise that Doc had gotten so used to in here that it sounded strange, now that Ex had drawn his attention to it again.

It was true, over the time that his visits to the void had become normality, Doc had done quite a few strange things for Ex that he, severely limited in his range of motion, had a bit of trouble with. More than once he’d popped into the portal just to hand back something Ex had dropped and now couldn’t reach again. Apples, books, tools that Doc had left him to enchant alongside an anvil and whichever books were needed. It had given Ex something to do and Doc some more time to focus on various projects. He’d left Ex boxes filled with items to craft up, and Ex had jumped at the opportunity to have something to do.

When he’d lined the chair with carpet – black, to match the curtains, as Ex had said – he’d unceremoniously just grabbed Ex around the waist and lifted him onto the backrest, featherweight that he was. Ex had thanked him by swinging the chains into his arms and back as he worked, complaining all the while about Doc abusing his lack of escape range. Doc had lifted him back down as well in response. 

“You’ve always made sure you had it on,” Doc said with a helpless shrug and half smile. “I figured it was because you didn’t want me around when it was off.”

A bit stiffly, Ex shrugged. “It feels strange to have my face visible to someone else. I don’t really know why I always have that thing on, either, if I’m honest. It’s… comfortable, to have that kind of defence at all times, not having anyone know your face. I guess it comes with… the fact that I share a lot of traits with Xisuma.”

“Being an evil clone of someone will have that effect,” Doc said, breaking into a proper grin again. Ex glared at him. 

“Not like he has a better reason for it! Neither of us do, really. He likes the mystery,” Ex did air quotes around the word and rolled his eyes, “and he likes the look of battle armour. Which is, to be fair, absolutely a valid reason, it looks fantastic. Especially in red. But he doesn’t _need_ it. He’s – We’re just private, I guess.”

Unspoken between them hung the implication behind that sentence. _I am too, Doc. But not now. Not with you. You’re the exception._ Doc laughed softly.

“What?!”

“You sound so defensive, like you’re trying to find a good reason for either of you to wear it. I don’t care _why_ you, or Xisuma for that matter, keep your face hidden under a helmet at all times. Nobody has ever seen Etho with his mask off, either. That’s just how he likes to be, and I don’t know why or if there’s a reason at all. It doesn’t matter, I don’t have to wear it and it’s not creating any problems for me. What matters is that these are things that are _for you_ to decide, and I just barged in here without a second thought. I was worried I was making you uncomfortable.”  


It was silent for a few moments.

“You were worried about making me uncomfortable,” Ex then repeated, sounding thoroughly confused. Doc looked back at him with a smile that he knew looked way more sheepish than he would have liked. “Well, yes? I like my friends to be comfortable around me.”

“I’m not your friend.”

Doc broke into laughter again. “Okay, then why am I coming back here all the time? Why am I here _now_ , after I was having a horrible time being annoyed that nothing was going my way?”

“To blow off steam? Feel better about your sorry self because you’re not in chains? I don’t know!” Ex replied, looking defiant as ever, pointedly staring at his hands rather than Doc’s face. 

“Oh, shut up,” was all Doc said. He had worked out by now that Ex’s aggressions tended to manifest especially when he didn’t know how to process something. It seldom fazed him anymore. “You’re my friend and you gotta deal with it now. Cry me a river.”

Ex didn’t reply, instead he just let his eyes dart around the empty void for a while, fidgeting with his hands in his lap. Doc watched him out of the corner of his eye while he pretended to busy himself with his communicator. 

“…thank you,” Ex finally said, though he still sounded sulky. Doc couldn’t help but start laughing again. “Ex,” he managed between chuckles, “We’ve been friends for the better part of me coming here. You’re the only person in the world who could manage to take a mutual friendship and find a way to be annoyed at it existing!”

“I’m not used to having friends,” Ex grumbled. Doc just continued chuckling to himself.

“Alright. So since you share traits with Xisuma, does he look like you?”

For a moment, Ex looked puzzled by the sudden change of topic, but when Doc grinned and winked at him, it visibly dawned on him that Doc was giving him an out of the uncomfortable conversation about him not knowing how friendships worked. He rolled his eyes complaisantly.

“No, he doesn’t. Not at all, actually.”

Doc, now that he had been given express permission, eyed Ex’s face. He was almost freakishly pale, all angles and sharp edges, and his hair was nearly pure white. It hung in wild strands around his face and over his shoulders, all the way down to his waist, unkempt and uncared for. The x-shaped scars that he shared with Xisuma were an almost glaring shade of red across his face, just like the one that adorned his left lower lip. Another one went right across his right eye, reminding Doc of Etho. His eyes – a light shade of red, much less piercing now that the red visor wasn’t there to multiply the colour. 

Ex watched him with obvious amusement. “Want to take a picture?”

“Kinda,” Doc said with a shrug and a grin. “Not something I get to see every day, one of the X’s without a helmet. Satisfies the curiosity a bit.”

“I’m not _one of the X’s_ ,” Ex replied, voice acidic. “And it won’t help you either. Other than the facial structure, there’s nothing the same about us.”

“And the scars.”

“I’ve got more. He’s only got these two,” Ex said, gesturing to the ones crossing over his nose. Doc nodded in feigned awe, provoking yet another eyeroll.

“What’s so different about him then? Does he come in colour?”

Ex snorted. “That too. He’s got a beard, for starters.” 

“Does he? Why do you not have one?”

“Can’t grow one for some reason. Don’t want to either, it’s bad enough that the hair grew all over the place to the point where I couldn’t get the helmet off anymore.”

Doc laughed. “Like a cat in a cone.”

“I will strike you with lightning until you die.”

“Oh sure, again?”

‘Ping!’, the communicator interrupted their banter.

Doc glanced down at it.

GoodTimesWithScar: < Doc?? Where’d you disappear to? >

“Oh jeez it’s daytime – I almost forgot there’s people out there.”

“That happens in here,” Ex nodded. “Feels like it’s only you left in the world.”

“I know, I know, you don’t deserve to be in here, you should be out there destroying said world,” Doc replied dryly while he typed out an answer to Scar.

Docm77: < Checked for damages. Meet me in front of the hangars? >

Those were out of sight. He’d be able to slip out, hopefully.

“I do in fact not deserve to be in here, thank you,” Ex said and pointedly rattled his chains. “Don’t know if I still need to destroy the world, but we’ll see.”

Doc gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before he hurried to make his way back out. “Be back later! Let me know if you need anything!”

Ex was still nodding when he’d already disappeared. 

“…so it’s basically like a game of tag, but with the twist that when you’re it, you can gather more allies who are also it?”

“I mean. Kind of?”

Having been busy as can be, Doc had not found the time to visit Ex for almost a week, and now that he was back here with a fresh shipment of entertainment shulkers and apples, Ex was absolutely bombarding him with questions about the goings-on in the overworld. Especially the newly conceptualised Demise game had, predictably, really provoked his curiosity. 

Ex, perched on top of the chair’s backrest, was devouring an apple in that unholy fashion that was typical for him, core and all. If not for all the blowing up and destroying worlds he was known for, that would have been a dead giveaway that he had to be unhinged. Doc watched him from where he was lounging on the seat, turned to the side so his head could lie somewhat comfortably on an armrest while his legs were hanging over the other one.

“That Grian really just reinvents tag over and over, doesn’t he? Didn’t you say he had a tag game before?”

“He did. But this time, there’s like, so many diamonds you can win.”

“Greedy bastards, the lot of you. Hey when you die, lure someone in and I’ll blast them with lightning as soon as they come through!”

“That’s not a _when_ , that’s an _if_ , and a very slim one at that! Plus, PVP isn’t allowed,” Doc retorted, to which Ex just grinned maliciously. “I’m a mob. One of a kind, like the dragon.”

“Would that show up on the communicator? As a death message, I mean?” Doc wondered. Instead of answering, Ex held an expectant hand downwards over his face. Doc sighed and turned just as much as he needed to rummage through the freshly filled box next to the chair, pull out another apple and hand it over. 

“I don’t think it would?” Ex finally replied, munching away. “Not one specific to me anyway. I’m not supposed to be able to access the channels at all, so I doubt they’d let it through. It would probably just pick up on the lightning, not on who caused it. Maybe you’d get a different one since we have a fancy little private channel?”

“That would be dismissed though. Cause people can see whether it’s storming, and if someone gets struck by lightning when it’s peachy sunny, it’ll be invalid because they’ll assume that the communicator glitched.”

“Gotta drop ‘em out the portal at a deadly place then,” Ex mused. “That one doesn’t show my name, even though I technically cause it.”

“Yeah, Xisuma is the living proof,” Doc grinned. “Now I’m really curious if the messages would be different on the main channel versus ours, though. Wanna kill me and find out?”

“Nah.”

Doc raised his eyebrows. “Man, you would’ve _jumped_ at the opportunity not too long ago. You starting to like me or something?”

Ex huffed. “You wish. Don’t wanna risk that it does show and then they’ll smash the portal and cut off my apple deliveries! Also that’s _effort_.”

“You keep telling yourself that.” 

Ex, chewing on the last bite of his second apple, lightly tapped Doc’s shoulder with one foot in a mock kick, but his grin quickly vanished when Doc grabbed his ankle with his other hand and pulled. In one quick swoop, Ex slipped off the backrest and landed gracelessly on top of Doc with a pained “oof”.

Doc meanwhile was regretting his impulsive decision already. The impact had knocked the wind out of him and Ex’s armour was full of angular edges that dug into him uncomfortably. 

“One of these days you’ll break my arms,” Ex groaned, trying to get back up again and in the process digging his arms painfully into Doc’s chest. Doc, still trying to recover from the sudden lack of air in his lungs, wrapped his arm around him like a vice to keep him still. 

“Don’t… hold on… air,” he croaked, sucking in breaths. Ex gave a short chuckle and plopped back down, albeit more gently than before. The chains clinked.

“This is a teachable moment, Doc. A valuable lesson about consequences.”

“Yeah,” Doc replied, slowly managing to breathe normally again. “You’d know about those.”

“I do. Why you still refuse to listen to me is beyond me,” Ex replied somewhere on his chest. Doc laughed and finally loosened his grip, letting his hand wander into the white mop of hair on Ex’s head to give him a few absentminded pets. “Yeah, I really should.”

Ex was holding very still now, while Doc continued to run his fingers through the tangled strands of hair. His metal arm clanked against the armour plates. 

“Isn’t it uncomfortable, having this suit on all the time?”

“Not really. I could take it off, but I don’t know if I’d be able to get it back on with the chains,” Ex replied. His voice was quieter than normal. 

“Really, you can? I thought with the shackles…”

“I’d have to leave the arms. It’s not all one piece, it comes off in sections.”

“Hm. It looks so seamless,” Doc wondered, eyes darting around in the darkness above, lingering on the chains disappearing into the void. 

“They all fit together with latches and such,” Ex said, suppressing a yawn. Doc stopped his petting activities to lift his head as much as he could manage in his position, trying to catch Ex’s eyes. But Ex had his face turned too far down for him to see. 

“You tired?”

“Nah,” Ex murmured back. The lie was blatantly obvious. For a moment, Doc contemplated, then he dropped his head back down. 

“If you fall asleep, I won’t be able to get back up without waking you up.”

“I’m not falling asleep.”

Doc chuckled and resumed carding his hand through Ex’s hair. “Okay then. Wanna know what I’ve got planned for the circle of doom base?”

“Yeah.”

With his voice a quiet hum in the silence of the void around, Doc detailed his plans for his base – how he’d make it into a raid farm, how much of a pain some of the redstone components were to craft, and how finicky some of the contraptions that he needed were being in the testing stage already. It didn’t take long for Ex’s breathing to become deep and slow and his body to relax when he inevitably did fall asleep. 

Doc just smiled to himself and extinguished the torch next to the chair. With no light left but the lazy purple glow from the portal, he closed his eyes. It wasn’t the first time he’d fallen asleep in here. 

He woke up to Ex half curled up on top of him, holding on to him like he was a giant teddy bear. Doc yawned. It was the first morning of Demise being in full effect. He’d have to get out there, exchange his diamond armour for iron and stock up on potions. Get his hands on a totem or two. And he should do it soon – nobody had probably joined the dead team yet, but you never knew. Nevermind the fact that his base was quite high up in the sky. One misstep and he’d be plummeting to his doom. 

“Ex? Hey, Ex. I need to get going.”

Ex grumbled sleepily and adjusted his position. Doc chuckled. “Ex, come on. I need to get up.”

“No.”

“Ex.”

Ex sighed theatrically and pushed himself up, stretched his arms out over his head and immediately busied himself by rummaging through the shulker next to the chair. Doc climbed off the chair and stretched himself out. His back hurt. However carpeted, Ex’s little throne was definitely not made for a man his size. Maybe he should rebuild it. Maybe he should build some more in here anyways.

He went and patted Ex on the head, making him jump a little at the touch. “Sorry. I’ll head out and try not to die out there. You good?”

“Yeah, I – yeah,” Ex replied, still focussing intently on the shulker and the shulker only. 

“Come on. Hugs goodbye!” Doc demanded. Ex stilled, but still refused to turn and face him. “You’ve had your share.”

“You’re such a killjoy. Fair enough, I’ll – ”

Suddenly, he had an armful of Ex and a mouthful of hair. He laughed quietly and gave Ex a gentle squeeze. He was perfectly aware that he was pushing Ex’s comfort zone sometimes, but he also felt like he _was_ getting pretty good at reading him and in turn being able to tell when he was truly overstepping a line. 

“Don’t die immediately, I will make fun of you,” Ex mumbled somewhere into his shoulder. Doc laughed. “I won’t.”

He let go of Ex and, feeling like he could get away with just one more bit of pestering before he left, went to plant a kiss on his cheek. But as Ex moved back his head turned, and Doc reflexively jerked back when his intended joke found his lips meeting Ex’s just barely. 

For a heartbeat, Ex just stared at him like a deer in headlights. Then, before Doc knew it, Ex had pulled him back by the front of his coat and pressed a proper kiss to his mouth. Doc froze and stared, wide-eyed, at Ex’s face inches from his. Ex looked like he was actively, but voluntarily biting into a lemon – eyes screwed shut, nose scrunched. 

As quickly as it had begun, it was over, and Ex – with his face significantly less white than usual – pulled back with an expression Doc could not read at all. He just stood there, dumbfounded. Ex stared at him. “You need to go.”

“I…” Doc began before trailing off, not knowing where that sentence was ever going to go. Ex’s expression was rapidly changing into a more and more panicked one. 

“Go. Doc, _please_ go.”

He just nodded and almost mechanically turned and walked away, towards the portal and then through it. When he glanced back just before that familiar tug pulled him away, he could see Ex’s face and hair shining bright against the darkness of the void behind him and his armour. And then, he was gone and Doc found himself under the looming circle of his base. A little ways away, the portal was glowing softly. 

Had he always come out in this spot? 

The communicator made him jump when it made its familiar little noise. When he pulled up the screen a little too hasty for his own liking, it sprung up still showing the channel he shared with Ex. But there was no news there. It still showed the last message Ex had sent:

EvilXisuma: < Bring appls >

‘Ping!’ it went again.

Doc took a deep breath and switched channels. 

Keralis1: < What’s this about? >

Grian: < New game >

Grian: < Demise dares >

Keralis1: < …ah. No spank you. >

Grian: < You can win diamonds >

Keralis1: < Maybe later <3 >

Doc closed the communicator again with a sigh. So Grian was already building traps, vaguely disguised as games. Well, at least he knew what to stay away from for now. 

He pondered for a moment whether he should send Ex a message, but decided against it in the end. He could probably use a moment to breathe.

Doc shook his head and pushed the thought away. Ex would calm down in a little while, and really, this wasn’t that big of a deal anyways. A kiss, however weird, had never killed anybody. He had projects to focus on.

When night time came and the chores of the day were done, he found himself lingering around the portal, but hesitated to just jump through as he was used to by now. Ex had looked so thoroughly spooked.

Docm77: < Ex? You hungry? >

Doc opened up the channel for what felt like the millionth time, and still his question remained the last message on their shared channel. He’d even checked twice whether he’d sent it to the main channel by accident, but no – he was simply not getting a reply. 

He resolved to just jump in – he could always leave again. But when he stepped into the portal, he felt the familiar tug in his stomach, but nothing happened. Area 77 flickered and warped itself around him, but it did not vanish, and no dark familiar void opened itself up in its place. Doc felt his heart sink. He stepped out and back in again, and once more he felt his stomach drop and saw his surroundings blur, but he remained where he was. 

Something in his chest froze over. Was the void gone? Was Ex okay? Had Xisuma found out and banned him into even deeper unknowns?

Doc left the portal and pulled up the tab list. He’d stopped even checking it most nights.

Tango, Iskall, Cleo.

No Xisuma. He’d probably show up at some point, check if stuff was working as intended, fiddle with the code. Should he ask him? Should he start a conversation about – about _something_ and try to steer it towards Ex, see what he’d say? Would Xisuma even tell him the truth if he _had_ found out about his visits to Ex or would he lie to keep it from happening again? If Doc could lie to him, Xisuma could do the same, couldn’t he?

Trying to stop his thoughts from getting completely out of his control, Doc pulled up the communication channel again.

Docm77: < Ex are you okay? >

A minute ticked by, then another, and another. Nothing.

Docm77: < Ex? >

He tried the portal again. No change. Refreshed the tab list.

Tango, Iskall, Cleo. 

‘Ping!’

< Iskall85 left the game >

Refreshed it again.

Tango, Cleo. 

Again.

Tango, Cleo. 

He stepped into the portal. Still nothing. No portal, no reply, no Xisuma. 

Docm77: < Ex >

Another minute passed, then two, then three. Doc felt like a weight was slowly, slowly pressing down on him.

Docm77: < I’m getting X >

He had no real idea how he was going to do that – probably go fly over to Xisuma’s base for starters, try and find a way to get a hold of him as soon as he got back.

‘Ping!’

Doc pulled the screen up so fast he almost scratched himself. 

EvilXisuma: < I’m fine. >

Docm77: < Did you block the portal? >

He received no reply, and despite trying for hours to come, that was how he was left to give up and go to sleep at last. Xisuma had long since appeared on and then vanished from the tab list again. Doc didn’t speak to him. He just finally shut off the communicator, took it off and let himself drift into unconsciousness. 

< Docm77 left the game >

Somewhere in the dark, Ex could breathe again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Flower Power launch (including the first-time fail): [HERE](https://youtu.be/mlRZybOqa_c?t=1547)  
> Doc's perspective: [HERE](https://youtu.be/J1Jv2ran-lc?t=1500)
> 
> "X has got a beard" - he does. Or at least [he did in 2017.](https://youtu.be/AMw26148SLs)  
> Is it kinda weird of me to put that in here and specifically point it out/ link to a video that proves it, considering Xisuma is very careful not to reveal his face? Yes, and I'm fully acknowledging that. But he’s made and posted that video himself, hasn’t taken it down in 3 years and it's set to be accessible to anyone who searches for it, so I think it's fair game. Don't be weird in the comments, guys! Just acknowledge that he's got some nice guitar skillz
> 
> Grian making Demise Dares: [HERE](https://youtu.be/B2LPyp2xeqU?t=540)
> 
> And as a bonus, because I know you all immediately thought of it when you read the word: [OOF](https://youtu.be/0T_NR2KY8uI)


	6. Karma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the part you've all been waiting for: this chapter is where the explicit rating comes in! Last chance to bail if you don't wanna read the lemon. Though I have a feeling y'all have been waiting exactly for this.
> 
> Also PSA, this is fanfic-logic sex, where spit is just as good as lube, properly preparing yourself/ your partner is semi-optional and condoms are pointless and basically nonexistent. Be safe out there and use protection.
> 
> Now read and be ~~horny~~ merry!

‘Ping!’

< MumboJumbo blew up >

Grian: < OH! >

Doc’s eyebrows shot up. Another one bites the dust, huh.

Docm77: < Mumbo got rekt >

Docm77: < Someone blew him up. Leaves me and Iskall, I’m pretty sure. >

He paused for a moment. 

Docm77: < Told you I’d win it! >

No answer came and he’d stopped expecting one, really. He had sent Ex updates throughout the Demise game, but never received a reply since the portal had stopped letting him through. He’d tried it a couple more times after that, but always with the same result. He figured he’d have to wait until Ex invited him back in. 

A couple of times he had been seconds away from telling Xisuma everything, asking him to just get Ex out of there – but could he really be sure that his judgement of him was better than Xisuma’s? Ex was _his_ clone after all, not Doc’s. And who was he to overrule Ex’s decision of very clearly not wanting to see him anymore? Could he really be sure that Ex had changed as much as Doc thought he had if he wasn’t even willing to deal with one single thing that had gone wrong and needed to be talked out?

Doc sighed and turned his attention back on his raid farm. It was so close to finally being at a stage of finished where he wouldn’t have to fiddle with it constantly, but something was up with it today and for the life of him, he could not figure it out. It was starting seemingly by itself, stopping again just as suddenly – Doc was just done, really. He was ready to call it a day. 

It was dark. Why was it dark? 

The thought was barely even there before the muffled darkness turned into a bright pandemonium. White flashed before his eyes and oh, his ears were _ringing_ , oh man. That was _painful_ , everything was incredibly painful and jagged and glaringly bright, and then suddenly, Doc found himself back on top of his spiral of doom, blinking into the sun as if he was seeing it for the first time. 

< Docm77 joined the game >

< Docm77 blew up >

Doc stared at his communicator before he slowly closed the screen. Yes, that seemed about right, but… what? Grian had – 

‘Ping!’

MumboJumbo: < OH! >

Jeez, that guy and his –

‘Ping!’

This thing was not letting him form one coherent thought, was it? He opened the screen up again.

EvilXisuma: < Oh Doc, no >

Doc stared. He checked the channel, then the tab list, then the channel again. It was still there. That was Ex’s name, glaring at him bright and clear from his communicator, in their main messaging channel. 

He blinked. And then, while the communicator started chiming with an influx of disbelieving messages, he began to hurry down the scaffolding and over to the portal. He stepped in, and it pulled him away into the dark. 

When he found himself in the familiar emptiness, he could see Ex’s figure in front of the chair, arms pulled backwards from how much he was straining against the chains. His whole body was shaking with tension as he pushed towards Doc in a bitter, losing fight with his restraints. He wasn’t wearing his helmet nor the chest piece of his armour, instead he only appeared to be clad in a black tank top of sorts. He looked – Doc had no idea what to make of the expression he was wearing. Distressed. Relieved. Imploring. 

_”Doc.”_

Doc found himself walking towards him, quickly and with purpose, and Ex was pulling towards him against his shackles, his expression turning downright desperate when Doc stopped just short of where he was able to reach. 

“What the _hell_ were you doing?!”

“Doc, I’m sorry, I – ”

“I haven’t heard from you in _weeks_. The portal wouldn’t let me in, I thought something _happened_ , you – ”

_”I’m sorry!”_

Ex’s voice sounded so broken that it was enough to stun Doc into silence. Ex stared at him out of pleading eyes, brimming with actual tears. His voice was shaky when he began to speak, laced with a small, dry sob he couldn’t keep down. 

“I panicked, I blocked you off because I didn’t – I didn’t know what to _do_ , I couldn’t – Doc, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. When I stopped messing with the portal, you’d stopped trying to use it, and I locked myself out of the messaging somehow. I don’t know what I did, I’m guessing I blocked the connection to the overworld and the communicator went with that, but I couldn’t send anything through anymore. I tried, but it just – it didn’t work and I couldn’t fix it. 

“I got your updates about the game and everyone dying, I loved it. But it wouldn’t let me respond. I’ve been fighting with this stupid thing for ages, but I only just managed to – I didn’t see that it wasn’t the right channel, I just – ”

He trailed off and just looked at Doc, still pulling at the chains that were maxed out and shaking with tension behind him. Doc let out a heavy breath.

„You’re such an _idiot_.”

Ex smiled the faintest of smiles. “I’ll agree with you this once.”

“I was so close to asking Xisuma for help so many times, I almost told him everything, god I went half insane thinking – ugh I could _kill_ you!”

He finally closed the gap between them and pulled Ex into a hug, stepping forward so Ex could stop straining his shoulders. Ex immediately wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his chest, clinging to Doc like he was the one thing keeping him from drowning in an endless ocean. 

“You’re free to kill me,” he said, his words muffled by Doc’s lab coat. “You’re on the dead team now.”

Doc couldn’t help but laugh. He pushed a hand into Ex’s hair at the back of his head and gently manoeuvred him into a position where he’d actually be able to breathe. He felt the slight pressure as Ex continued to press his head against him. 

“I thought I’d lost you,” Doc said quietly. “I thought you wouldn’t ever let me back in.”

“I’m sorry.” 

The communicator was still giving the occasional chime of a message coming through. 

“Well, they know of you now.”

“Maybe they’ll finally let me out of here.”

“After this stunt, don’t expect me to be your advocate.”

“Hey, I’ve been so good. If you can play death games out there but I have to stay in here because I had a panic response that killed absolutely nobody, then I’m starting to think you only like me when you can control exactly when and how you have to deal with me.”

“Your panic response was to literally control dimensions!”

Ex pulled back from the hug, and his eyes had regained that icy piercing look to them that Doc hadn’t seen in ages. “I made sure I hurt nobody! If anything, blocking all of you from wandering into an interdimensional void was making that bloody portal _safer_.”

“But even in here, you snap your fingers and lightning strikes precisely where you want it to, and if someone happens to be standing there, tough luck! I’ve survived that only because you’re not at full capacity in here!”

“You’ve literally just gotten blown up by your own friends!”

“Grian was playing by the rules!”

“Oh, it was Grian, was it? He’s caused more chaos than I ever did at this point! You’ve had a _war_ going on earlier this year! You’ve literally gone and put weeks worth of time and effort into _killing each other_ and I’m still in here because, like you phrased it, I wanted a friend and went about it wrong. And you know what, fine, I’ll admit it was a really bad approach and I was awful to be around! But I’m not allowed to _learn_ from that and get another chance when you all out there go around killing each other for fun?! 

“You know I’ve changed, you were here for it. You know I’ve put _effort_ in. You told me to be better, and I damn well did, I _tried_ for you. So, where’s the karma, Doc? I’ve lost my patience.” 

Doc was still holding Ex by the shoulders, one of his hands just shy of his neck and he knew Ex was right, he knew he had no leg to stand on other than that he didn’t feel like this was his call to make, this was Xisuma’s decision, and he would never let Ex out of here, this was where he could do no harm, where he could exist separate from the overworld, from them.

But they would be moving worlds soon, and Ex would stay here in the dark, and Doc would move on with the other Hermits into a new world, a new chapter, and he would need time, so much time to build up his resources again, and even if he built another portal, even if he managed to chunk-rip it again, he had no way of knowing it would lead him back here again, back into the void, back to Ex who had long since stopped complaining about having to stay in here, separated and alone, even though Doc came to see him so often and never tried to get him out of those chains, those damned chains – 

And while Doc’s thoughts kept running away from him in an endless river of just _everything_ , Ex kept staring at him with those icy eyes, and his scars were red against his white skin, and his face was so hard, and so barely composed because he was _scared_ and Doc could _tell_ he was scared of exactly this – of being left behind again, left alone, left for dead by everyone. Even him. 

It felt like ages should have passed between them since Ex had finished speaking, but it had only been a few seconds when Doc moved his hand from Ex’s shoulder up to his chin, grabbed his face that seemed so small in his big hands, and pulled him forward to just press their lips together like he wanted them to bruise. 

Ex’s hands shot up from where they had been curled into fists at his side, chains rattling as he dug his fingers into Doc’s neck and back, steadying himself from where he had to crane his neck upwards and stand on his tiptoes because Doc was just too damn tall for this. Doc caught him with an arm curled around his waist, holding him, keeping him upright. Ex felt so _small_ in his hands, now more than ever that he wasn’t wearing all of his armour.

It seemed like such a strange shift in how they behaved around each other, but at the same time it felt like the most natural change, laced with the desperation of not knowing what was going to happen to them, to this, once this visit to the void came to its end. And there always was an end. 

It was a heated kiss, and it was becoming more frantic by the second. They grabbed and pulled at each other like they were trying to tear the other apart in the gentlest of ways, but yet they left scratches all over. Doc bent Ex’s head to the side and dug his teeth into the exposed neck, biting and sucking until a bruise bloomed in shades of purple and blue on the white skin. He could hear the hitched, shallow breaths that sounded like Ex was dragging the air through honey. Barely audible, almost-but-not-quite suppressed whimpers danced through the ever-silent darkness.

Ex was clawing at him, hands fluttering across and under the lab coat, restlessly dancing across his shoulders and then his side, nails digging into his back where they could reach. Doc let go of him just long enough to shrug out of the coat before he pulled him back. Ex was light as a feather in his arms as he lifted him up until their hips aligned, and Ex wrapped his legs around him like it was his purpose in life. They fit together like puzzle pieces falling into place. Ex had his arms wrapped around Doc’s neck like a vice, his lips pressed to Doc’s like their kisses were the oxygen in his lungs. Doc let his hands roam, pulling at Ex’s top until it slipped out of the remaining armour that still covered him from the hips down, and trailed gentle scratches across his body. Ex arched his back, pressing even closer, and Doc felt it like a jolt through his entire body when Ex shivered against him and a hitched whimper escaped his lips. 

Strands of long hair were falling like white ribbons across both of their flushed faces, and the chains moved in cold lines across Doc’s back every time Ex dug his nails into his shoulders in response to a bite along the line of his collar bones. The armour plating on Ex’s legs pressed almost painfully into Doc’s thighs. His jeans felt too tight, his entire body was hot and Ex was squirming in his arms, giving him rush after rush of heat with each strangled little whine he couldn’t keep down. 

“Ex,” Doc groaned against the warm skin underneath his lips, “Armour… off.”

Ex couldn’t suppress a moan. “Do… do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” he breathed, and Doc sunk his teeth into that one spot right beneath his jaw in response. Pretentious bastard. Ex’s head fell back and he sounded like he was choking on words that wouldn’t come. Doc drew back and set him down, hands lingering at Ex’s sides while he found his balance. Ex pulled open a couple of latches at the sides of his thighs and the dark red plating sprung apart and clattered to the ground. Only the guards on his arms up to his elbows remained, but there was nothing to be done about them, since the chains were shackled around them too tightly for him to slip out. Ex stepped out of his boots and kicked them away.

Doc had rid himself of his jeans, throwing them somewhere into the dark. For a second, he realised that Ex was even smaller now, the boots adding an inch or two to his height, but he had no time to worry about that now. All he could think was that he needed to get his hands back on that white frame, obscured now only by a pair of thin black shorts, to get more of those sounds out of him. 

Ex reached his arms up towards him and Doc followed the invitation, bending down until Ex could press their lips together again. He wrapped his arms around Ex’s arched back and lifted him back up, relishing the way he could dig his nails into Ex’s thighs and coax more of those shivers and strangled moans out of him that made Doc’s breath heavy and his body feel like thousands of tiny electric shocks were rushing straight to his groin. The way Ex’s hips jerked and twitched only made it worse. 

They were still standing just in front of the chair Doc had built ages ago, the chains clinking quietly every now and again when Ex maxed them out and they would not give any more. Tearing himself away from Ex’s kisses for a few moments, Doc just took one large step up on the seat and sat Ex down on the backrest. The chains swung gently into his arms when Ex immediately made use of this slightly wider range of motion and let his hands roam all over. Doc felt his breath catch just a little bit. He stared down, and Ex stared back at him with pupils so blown, there was barely any red left in his irises. It was all black, raw want. 

Doc felt desire hit him, washing over him like a wave and swallowing him whole. It pooled in his stomach and lumped in his throat, and he swore he could taste it on the tip of his tongue when he lunged forward and caught Ex in another one of those frantic kisses. He wanted so much, all at once, and he didn’t know where to begin, so he just grabbed a fistful of Ex’s hair and bent his head back, and Ex’s whimpers came choppy and strangled and _begging_ for more. 

“You like that?” Doc managed, his voice barely more than a whisper, and raspier than he’d ever anticipated. Ex just barely choked out an “Uh-huh”, his nails digging into the sides of Doc’s hips, lingering at the band of his boxers with a butterfly’s touch, and it was driving Doc _insane_. He was sure he would implode at just about any further touch, but he was craving it, needing it so badly that it hurt, and Ex wasn’t far off from the sounds he was making. 

Doc used his free hand to guide Ex back towards him, and Ex came oh so willingly, another shiver running through him when their hips aligned once again. Doc tightened the grip he had on Ex’s hair and Ex sighed, a high-pitched, shaky sound that just made the pleasure that much sweeter. He was so barely sitting on the backrest anymore that Doc managed to pull his pants off him with barely any trouble. Ex’s cheeks flushed ever so slightly when he somehow managed to get himself out of them all the way, his fluttering hands tugging at Doc’s last remaining piece of clothing like a question. 

Doc’s grin was almost menacing when he tilted Ex’s body back further, their hips flush together and feeling just so _good_ like that. The movement forced Ex to lift his hands back up, helplessly clinging to Doc’s shoulders and breathing fast, desperate whimpers escaping him as he did. 

“Doc, _please_ – ”

Doc let his free hand travel up Ex’s body from the navel up, in touches so featherlight they had to be torturous, until he reached his lips. “Suck,” he whispered, and Ex parted his lips obediently.

Doc felt his knees get dangerously weak when Ex did exactly what he had told him to. He bent down and pressed his forehead against Ex’s, unable to keep in the groan that was building up in his throat. Ex whimpered and bucked his hips, eagerly pushing against Doc’s fingers so they slipped deeper down his throat, nearly making Doc fall apart right then and there. 

Doc was still holding his head up by the hair when he pulled his fingers back again to capture Ex’s mouth with his, and Ex arched against him, biting at Doc’s lips with wild despair. 

Doc just trailed his wet fingers back down, moving one of his legs back just enough so that he could brush past Ex’s hard-on. Ex whimpered, a choked _”Please”_ escaping him once more before Doc gently pushed one finger into him . Ex threw his head back, mouth hanging open, but no sound leaving him. Doc let go of his hair to steady him around the shoulders while he slowly nipped at the exposed neck as he moved his finger. Ex clung to him, a mess of helpless, needy sobs.

“Doc _please_ I want to touch you, I need to, please let me – ”

Doc pulled him back up just enough for Ex to uncurl one arm from around Doc’s neck and, with the chain rattling quietly, snaking it down his chest and to his crotch. This time, there was no more trace of the careful, ghosting fingers from before – Ex just pulled at the fabric until he managed to get it down just enough to get a hold of Doc’s dick, stroking him with messy, shaky motions. Doc felt like there was a fire burning him up from inside, burying his head in the crook of Ex’s neck and biting down to stifle his voice with no success. Ex moaned somewhere above his ear. 

“Can you… take more?” Doc managed, and Ex nodded frantically, a faint string of _”Yes, yes please”_ on his shaky breaths. Doc carefully pushed in a second finger, and he could feel Ex twitch, pushing back against him with a twist of his hips. There was not one coherent thought on Doc’s mind anymore. Ex was writhing against him in an effort to take him deeper, still stroking him, and making all these noises that were ringing louder in his ears the more he worked his fingers, and it was just _so much_. 

“Doc please, I need you to, please just – please,” Ex finally managed in between helpless whines and Doc knew that he should take more time, but neither of them wanted him to. He pulled back and out of Ex’s grasp, finally getting rid of the last bit of fabric he still had on him. Ex was holding on to one of the chains for balance, his pale skin littered with bruises and bitemarks, his face flushed and his chest gleaming with sweat. He was panting, staring at Doc with hungry eyes, and Doc still felt like he was on fire, want pulling at his chest. He stepped off the chair and around to the back of it, pulling Ex down from the backrest into his arms. Ex just let himself fall into him, somehow managing to not get tangled in a mess of chains in the process. Doc could feel his pulse beat through his entire body. 

He lifted Ex up against the chair’s backrest and Ex wrapped his arms and legs around him like Doc was the only thing keeping him sane. Doc felt a lump in his throat. Ex was so light, even when he held him up with one arm, holding the other hand up to Ex’s lips, which promptly parted once again. Doc tried desperately to regulate his breathing just a little bit, otherwise he would come before he’d even gotten to –  
Ex released his fingers again. “Doc _please_ fuck me.”

The words coursed through him like Ex had struck him with lightning. He pushed his fingers into Ex one more time, thrusting as deep as they would go, hearing Ex choke out a desperate sob at the sensation when he brushed his sweet spot for just a second. Finally, he pulled his hand away, lined himself up and slowly, slowly pushed inside. Ex was barely ready at all, but the way he was moaning and twisting his hips into Doc, he seemed to not mind particularly much. 

Doc pressed their foreheads together and Ex’s arms around his shoulders tightened, nails digging into Doc’s skin, his breath as rapid and shallow as Doc’s own. Ex craned his neck and found Doc’s lips, just barely keeping them connected while he whimpered and moaned with pleasure. 

Gently, Doc began to thrust, each push getting him that little bit deeper than the last. Ex was sobbing, his body curled around Doc’s at every opportunity, melting into Doc’s grip on his hips as he let himself be moved up and down like a ragdoll. 

“Ex – ,” Doc said, with no real idea what he was really planning to say, but Ex just nodded frantically, moaning choked sounds of “Yes, yes,” in between sloppy kisses, and Doc just focused on trying desperately not to burn up, not to let it be over too soon, not to forget to breathe. 

“More – Doc, harder – please,” Ex was managing somewhere next to his ear, his voice needier than ever before. “Please, I need you to, I want you so bad, please just, _fuck_ , fuck me like you hate me, _please_ – ”

He was blabbering, less coherent the longer he spoke, and every word was pushing Doc dangerously closer to the edge. He cut Ex off by grabbing him by the hair and pressing their lips together in a bruising kiss, picking up speed with his thrusts, pushing harder, deeper, and Ex was all high-pitched, muffled moans and choked little screams, clinging on to Doc within an inch of his sanity.

Doc broke the kiss only to sink his teeth into Ex’s neck once again, and he felt Ex shiver underneath him when he moved his hips faster, angling them so he found Ex’s sweet spot over and over, rutting against him with no more regard for anything but the sweet agony of building pleasure. There was no way he would be able to keep this up for much longer. He felt every last muscle burn, his throat was dry and he felt lust pool in his stomach, building and tearing at him from the inside. 

His hand was buried in Ex’s hair once again, the other one digging into Ex’s thighs where they wrapped around his hips, keeping their bodies aligned. Ex’s breaths were rapid and shallow, and Doc could tell he was so, _so_ close to falling apart on him from the way his hands aimlessly tried to touch and cling to any part of Doc they could reach, from the way his cheeks glowed red and sweat was glistening on his skin.

He was beautiful, barely audible gasps of “Fuck, fuck _Doc_ – ” escaping him over and over, and Doc bit down on his neck, hard, earning him a shout. Ex’s skin was hot and flushed, Doc felt pinpricks of sweat and lust all over himself and he just wanted – he needed – to make this hurt, desperate to have Ex feel the same bittersweet agony that was consuming him alive like fire.

He tugged at Ex’s scalp and Ex jerked against him, crying out, stuttering hips trying to match his thrusts. Doc let go of Ex’s hair, manoeuvring his hand in between them. He’d given Ex all but two strokes when Ex clung on to him like he wanted to squeeze him in two, as he spilled warm across Doc’s hand. Doc felt him tighten around him, and he was _so close_ but it wasn’t enough, there was that little bit of _more_ that he needed. He heard Ex ramble, words drowning in high-pitched sobs.

“Don’t stop, don’t you dare stop – please, _fuck_ , wreck me so I’ll never forget it, just don’t stop – ”

Doc grabbed Ex’s hips so hard it was bound to leave bruises, pounding into him like his life was on the line, and Ex was a mess in his arms, letting out high-pitched sobs and helpless moans, and then Doc lifted a hand and closed it around his throat. Ex’s gasps got impossibly more urgent, a stream of broken cries of pure, delirious overstimulation. Doc stared at the flushed face before him, desperately trying to drag this out just a little more while spikes of white-hot pleasure tore through him. Ex was still rambling on, a barely audible stream of helpless cries of lust.

“ – yes, fuck, yes, don’t stop, don’t stop, just like that, oh god yes, _yes, fuck_ harder, harder please _please_ – ”

Doc squeezed his hand around Ex’s throat just that little bit tighter so that he was no longer able to speak. Ex’s eyes rolled back in his head, gasping for the air Doc’s iron grip wouldn’t let him have, his entire body shaking with tension before he just went _limp_ , and so agonizingly tight that Doc felt his vision go white and his mind go blank as he came. 

Doc had no idea how much time had passed when he found himself slumped against the back of the chair, with Ex curled against him in his lap and holding weakly on to him. He felt like his mind was slowly reuniting with his body, but in a way that made it seem like it might have been days since they had been separated. 

“Hey. You okay?” he murmured. Ex, still taking faster than normal but no longer nearly as shallow breaths as before, nodded against his chest. Something was off about his position. For a moment or two, Doc just frowned as he stared down at the curled up figure. Then, realisation began dripping into his hazed brain. 

“Your chains are off.”

“Hm?” 

Ex tiredly lifted his head. Doc reached over him and carefully turned over his arms. There were no more shackles on them. Ex blinked. “When… what?”

His voice was hoarse and raspy, and Doc couldn’t help but instinctively hold him just that little bit tighter against his chest, as if to reassure him – to tell him that for all he had wrecked him, he was going to make sure Ex was going to be okay.

‘Ping!’

Doc glanced at the blinking communicator on his wrist, then he gently scooped Ex up from his lap and, despite his weak protest, carried him over to the seat of the chair, where he threw his coat over him as a makeshift blanket. “Here. You stay there for a bit. I’ll check what’s going on.”

He fished his underwear and jeans from the floor and slipped them back on before joining Ex, who blushed ever so slightly and looked away as he climbed right back into his lap and hid himself against his chest once more. Doc just curled an arm over him and pulled up the messages of the past… however long it had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> < MumboJumbo blew up >: [HERE](https://youtu.be/z1093wQk_No?t=793)
> 
> < Docm77 blew up as well >: [HERE](https://youtu.be/qAiqgI8jKsk?t=764)  
> < Docm77 blew up again but from Grian's replay mod point of view >: [HERE](https://youtu.be/41iw0Nj-A2U?t=728)
> 
> "So where's the karma, Doc? I've lost my patience": Taken from [Karma](https://youtu.be/9jxvXP3cW44) by AJR


	7. Catch and Release

Predictably, following Ex’s message, there were a lot of incredulous reactions, and then more confusion over the lack of response to those. Doc skipped past them to the more recent ones. Apparently Xisuma had not even been there to witness the initial commotion. 

ZombieCleo: < He’ll be here any second. I doubt we’re all about to die >

Tango: < Not dying sounds like a good plan >

< Xisuma joined the game >

Biffa2001: < Hey X guess what >

Xisuma: < Alright what is going on. Why are we panicking >

ZombieCleo: < We’re not panicking, just confused. Someone close by to show you their messages? >

Biffa2001: < I am >

Xisuma: < ????? >

ZombieCleo: < Right, I’ll let you lot sort this out then >

< ZombieCleo left the game >

Renthedog: < And there goes our braincell >

Xisuma: < Wait >

Xisuma: < EX can’t use the channels. He can’t even access the overworld. >

Tango: < apparently he can. Why’d he have to be sad over Doc dying though >

Tango: < Couldn’t have rooted for me, the bastard >

Xisuma: < Doc?? >

ImpulseSV: < He hasn’t said anything since he demised >

Tango: < Not even to that >

Xisuma: < Does anyone know where he is? >

Renthedog: < His base probably? >

Xisuma: < Has he been on tab the entire time? >

ImpulseSV: < He hasn’t left no >

Xisuma: < Doc, get your green noggin out here or I’m coming after you >

Tango: < lol >

Xisuma: < Doc are you in that portal of yours >

< GoodTimesWithScar joined the game >

< Zedaph joined the game >

< BdoubleO100 joined the game >

Xisuma: < Doc last chance. Admin’s prerogative. >

The second Doc read the final message, his heart dropped. The last few messages seemed disconnected enough for time to have passed between them being sent. If he had to guess, he’d say Xisuma found him absent from his usual spots and, after receiving no reply to his question regarding the portal, had gathered all the Hermits that he could get a hold of.

“Ex – ,” he began as he hurried to type a reply, but before he managed to finish a single word, he felt the tug in his stomach and found himself suddenly blinking into the glaring sunlight overhead. From the corner of his eye, he could see the portal – still glowing, _thank heavens_. He just hoped Ex was going to be alright for now. He’d have to come back for him as soon as he had dealt with whatever it was he was faced with right now. 

It seemed like an intervention. Right in front of him stood Xisuma and behind him, like an army, half of the other Hermits. Wow, he was suddenly _very_ glad that he’d gotten dressed again. He held his hands up defensively. “I was just about to – ”

He got cut off by Xisuma. “ _Where_ in the name of all that’s holy have you been?!”

“Xisuma – ”

“We’ve been out here, trying to figure out what in blazes could have happened to you, that bloody portal of yours wouldn’t work, we were worried _sick_ – ”

It wouldn’t work, huh? Ex had to have blocked it off for them, then. How on earth had he had the presence of mind to – Doc pulled himself out of his thoughts. Xisuma was still talking.

“Xisuma, I – ” he tried again, without success.

“– and when I go to the last resort of teleporting you over here, _again_ , you act like you were _just_ about to let us know you were fine?!”

“I _was_ ,” Doc said loudly, finally managing to get a word in. “I was. I’m sorry. I know I really messed up here, I made you all worry. But – ”

“There’s no room for a _but_ here!” Xisuma interrupted him again. Oh, he had been worried. Doc felt that pang of guilt in his gut again. “Did you even notice what was going on on this side of reality while you were off playing with your little experiment again?”

“I – ”

This time it was Ren who interrupted him. “Doc, where is your coat?”

Doc would have to remind himself later to give Ren approximately 77 diamond blocks, because the moment of silence during which everyone turned to him to give him the _Really now_ looks and eyerolls was all Doc needed. 

“Ex has it.”

Now it was him the confused looks turned to, spearheaded by Xisuma of course. “No I don’t?”

“Not you, Xisuma. _Ex_ has it.” 

Another moment of silence followed that one, and just before everyone could begin to pepper him with all sorts of questions, Xisuma made use of having room to talk. And with that way he had among them sometimes, of all the Hermits he was the one who knew how to talk with such a calm authority that nobody interrupted.

“So that’s how he managed to get a connection to the overworld, it seems. I thought he might have something to do with you being lost at sea out there, so I thought setting him free might help. I thought he would’ve shown up by now. Oh my goodness me, I almost forgot to put him back where he’s supposed to be.”

“No.”

Xisuma, already in the process of diving into the code on his communicator, paused and looked up. “No?”

“No,” Doc repeated. The Hermits in the background looked like they were in dire need of some popcorn right about now. He kept his eyes on Xisuma’s. “Those chains have taught him enough of a lesson.”

He could see the gears turning in Xisuma’s head. Putting the pieces together, realising what Doc was telling him. 

“He – oh my goodness me, he didn’t trap you. You _found_ him. _That’s_ where you’ve been going!”

Doc nodded. “All season. I should’ve told you, I know I should have.”

“Yeah,” Xisuma agreed, voice tighter than usual, “You maybe should have. You know I didn’t put him in there for funsies, right?”

“I told him that too,” Doc said with a small grin. “When he was being a brat. But he’s really – he’s different.”

“He’s pulled that one before. ‘Oh you killed the evil out of me’, and then he went and caused enough chaos for me to have to put him in the void.”

“And how much chaos have we had without him anyways?” Doc responded dryly.

‘Ping!’ went his communicator. He could see a couple of Hermits automatically checking theirs. Xisuma was raising his eyebrow at him. Doc only barely managed to hold his gaze. “I modified the communicators.”

“You _gave_ him a communicator.”

Doc refrained from pointing out that Xisuma was stating the obvious. He pulled up the screen.

EvilXisuma: < you’re okay right >

Docm77: < Yeah. Come out. You might want to be part of this conversation. >

EvilXisuma: < Is it an ambush >

Docm77: < No you chain brain. I’m advocating for you, despite everything I stand for. Back me up at least! >

EvilXisuma: < Fine. If you’ll help me latch the cone >

Doc burst out laughing at that. Xisuma, reading along, gave him a puzzled look. Doc grinned. “His helmet’s been a hassle. First it wouldn’t come off, now it won’t go back on apparently.”

Xisuma blinked at him. “He took his helmet off.”

“It’s – look, I promise to explain it all to you in detail. Just let me get him out here first.” 

“Uh, guys, I think he kind of already is.”

Bdubs was pointing towards the portal, glowing softly purple a little ways away. There he was, armour and all, looking about him like he wasn’t sure what he was really seeing. The sunlight bouncing off of him made it apparent how _red_ his armour really was – it had seemed so muted all this time against the darkness of the void. Bunched up in his hands was Doc’s lab coat. 

Doc hurried to get over to him before anyone else had really begun to move yet, but as soon as he did, they all began following after him like a curious herd of sheep. It was fair enough, Doc thought to himself, he would have been similarly unwilling to miss something like this if it didn’t already involve him.

“I expected lightning, dude,” he grinned when he reached the portal. Ex held out the coat to him. “I figured that would not make it seem like I’ve changed much, so I used the portal like you peasants do.”

Doc laughed and shrugged the coat back on his shoulders. “Right, right. How terribly foolish of me. Anyway, what’s not closing on that cone of yours?”

“The back one, I think I got hair in it again.”

“You should cut that,” Doc said, fiddling with the mechanism that connected the helmet to the rest of the suit. It was indeed caught on strands of white hair again that he now had to push around to make the latch do its job. 

“What am I, an adjusted person? Form over function, Doc, I’m just gonna make you deal with these latches from now on.”

“Oh good,” Doc replied amusedly as he managed to get the latch to close, “Then I’ll start right now.”

He snuck one hand down to Ex’s side and snapped one more latch closed before he spun him around and casually threw his arm around his neck. “You forgot that one,” he said quietly enough for only Ex to hear it.

Ex just stood there, body stiff under Doc’s arm, and said nothing. Doc grinned. They were by now facing the little group of onlookers surrounding Xisuma, who had his arms crossed over his chest and looked at Ex with raised eyebrows. 

“Hello, EX.”

Doc’s grin got just that tad bit wider. Hello, Ex indeed.

“Xisuma.”

“So you’ve been keeping Doc busy all season, huh. How’d you manage to stop him from telling me that you were creeping your way back into the overworld?”

“Hey, don’t assume I somehow _made_ him not tell you. I expected him to often enough, but hey, I of all people am not going to talk sense into anyone, let alone this guy. He’s the one who insisted on coming back to hang out in an empty void time and time again.” 

Xisuma cast a searching glance at Doc, who just shrugged. “He’s not lying. I’d say if he was.”

“If he didn’t make you do… whatever it is you did, visiting him I guess, then why did you do it? Why didn’t you tell me the first time around?”

Doc looked back at Xisuma for a long moment, but his eyes told Doc the same thing his tone of voice had – he genuinely wanted to know. 

“Okay, how about we tell you, and our captive audience” – he got some laughs from the watching Hermits for that – “the whole story, and _then_ we answer some questions. If that’s okay with you?”

He nudged Ex’s shoulder with the arm he still had thrown over it. Ex returned his questioning look with an intent stare. “All for it, but I suppose we can summarize it here and there. It’s quite mundane at times, really.”

Doc grinned. “Yeah, don’t need to recount _all_ the times you stole my lab coat to use it as a blanket.”

That got another round of laughs and an eyeroll from Ex, who relaxed under Doc’s arm, evidently having understood that Doc didn’t plan to mention any of the ways they had gone past a simple friendship. And really, the fact that he’d considered that at all… Doc didn’t want to know what went on in that brain of his sometimes.

Quite a while later, the sun was setting and Doc and Ex had finally finished their exciting tale, which basically amounted to “We sat in the void surrounded by shulkers a lot, and sometimes Ex got a bit mad and cast some weak-ass lightning”. They’d had to start over twice because other Hermits joined in – one of those being Grian, who only vaguely knew about Ex even existing at all and thus had to be filled in on why exactly this was such a big deal.

“Okay but – why did the portal sometimes go to the void and sometimes to random places?” Grian asked with a puzzled look. They had ended up sitting around the fields of Area 77 like they were holding a really strange picnic. Bdubs in particular had just outright built himself a bed to lounge on while this whole thing was still going.

“Because it _does_ normally just link to the void, because it’s built across two chunks, and one of them was manipulated to rip the portal,” Doc said in response to Grian’s question. “So it exists in one chunk and doesn’t in the next, and apparently that makes it not know where to go, so it sends you to an in-between.”

“Yeah, okay, I got that,” Grian said, nodding. “Then why does it sometimes not go to the in-between?”

“Because it’s built on a chunk border _and_ that border bridges the paradox of the portal existing and not existing at the same time,” Ex took over the explanation. “And me doing… you know, weird stuff” – he mimed air-quotes around that – “works via chunk-borders. I can kind of… slip through them. And that allowed me to manipulate where the portal went for some reason.”

“Okay so the chunk thing – that’s not just a thing that _I_ don’t know about, you’re just weird?” Bdubs interjected and Ex nodded with a defeated sigh. “Yes, I’m just weird.”

“Oh! Alright, okay then!”

It was said in such a cheerful tone that it provoked laughs all around. Leave it to Bdubs to react to any- and everything with so much joy that it infected everyone in a fifty mile radius.

“Alright,” Xisuma said, and the chatter died down. He hadn’t really said much of anything for a while now, and now that he was speaking, he single-handedly got everyone’s attention. An admin’s prerogative, probably.

“I’m not putting anyone on time-out again, on one condition: _Tell me_ if something like this happens again. I promise not to go and spit fire at you, or make decisions over your heads. I know I’m the designated code-wrangler, but we’re a group, we do these things together – the decisions I mean, not the fire spitting. I guess if you wanted that, we could talk about it.”

“I want fire!” Tango yelled from a bit further back, prompting Zedaph to take out his flint and steel and unceremoniously set him on fire. Unfortunately, he also got Scar caught in the process, who just managed a characteristic whimper of “Oh no, oh it burns!” before being drowned out by laughter and Tango's yells of "Whow whoa, who - hey Zed, if you wanted to get someone all hot and bothered this is not the way, man!"

“Right, note to self, no fire spitting allowed, for everyone’s safety,” Xisuma said dryly, leading to more laughter. When everyone had calmed down again – and nobody was actively burning anymore – Xisuma continued. “Okay, we’ve all heard the thrilling tale and we’ll have to let the ones know who weren’t here to hear it themselves. Because I think we need to make a decision about what to do now. I’m not saying we just stick EX here back into the void, but I don’t think it’s really a good idea either to just pretend he wasn’t in there for a reason.”

“We’ve had our fair share of chaos without him,” Doc said, repeating what Ex had told him before: “I mean, we’ve had a full-on war not too long ago.” 

“What we didn’t have was a world that was so utterly wrecked it had to be abandoned.”

“Oh come on,” Ex said, with that defiant tone of voice Doc was so familiar with by now. “It wasn’t even the one you guys were in at the time, it was a parallel one.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that _you left an entire world so utterly wrecked that it had to be abandoned_ ,” Xisuma shot back sharply. “And need I remind you of the fact that you kept killing me, too!” 

Ex had nothing left to say to that. Doc let out a loud sigh. “Okay, listen, we all know Ex has a history of – ”

“Hey, I’m right here, Doc. You don’t need to talk for me,” Ex interrupted. He pushed his chin ever so slightly forward and sat up a little bit straighter. Doc fell silent, eyeing him from the side. Ex cleared his throat. “Right. I’ve got a compromise for you, Xisuma. And everyone else, I guess. You don’t put me back in chains _or_ lock me up in some empty void-dimension again. I promise not to hurt either the world you’re in or any of you, and when you switch worlds again, I’m… I’m going to go somewhere else. A different world or two. See what I can find for myself out there, separate from all of… this.”

“So you want to stick around until we jump worlds again, and then you’ll scarper?” 

“Yes.”

Doc watched Ex silently from where he was sat next to him. He seemed calm, resolute – at peace with the idea he had proposed. Leaving the Hermits and their worlds behind to search for a purpose of his own… it made sense, a painful amount of it, actually. So much so that Doc would’ve bet his last diamond that this separation was a scenario Ex had thought of, dreamed of even, during those long days and nights he’d spent alone in his chains, left with nothing but the thoughts in his head. He wanted to find a place for himself – where he could be his own person, and leave behind the baggage of feeling like a mere copy-gone-wrong of someone else. 

Something like a heavy cloud began to form around Doc’s heart. He hadn’t expected Ex to stick around, really. And it wasn’t like Doc was all that sure that they wouldn’t have rapidly drifted apart again, as violently and forcefully as they had drifted together. But somewhere deep inside of him he knew that he was going to miss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Oh you killed the evil out of me": That refers to [THIS](https://youtu.be/XGEaZs1q970?t=1281), but if you haven't seen it, the entire episode is so worth watching. It's a glorious trainwreck and a huge amount of work went into it - I mean it contains DOOM, but in Minecraft. Come on, that's just rad.
> 
> Ex destroyed a parallel world: That refers to the events of [THIS](https://youtu.be/dLi6Plg_Kwk) video, and the intro of the follow-up episode in which Xisuma revealed that of course he/ Ex didn't wreck the real HC server beyond repair for his episode 450, just a copy of that world


	8. Epilogue

One last time, Doc let his eyes wander across Area 77. Tomorrow, they would jump worlds again – using the ripped portal, this time. It would probably shatter in the process, Ex had said the previous night, sitting at the edge of the circle of doom and staring into the slow moving stars above.

Keralis had come from some other world, another _time_ , even, crossing through Ex’s void. If the Hermits entered it and went one way, while Ex went the other – without someone fixed at the middle to stabilize it, the in-between would eventually start to disintegrate, spitting them out at different worlds that lay far, far apart. That was the theory, anyways. In practise, they were all just hoping that there wouldn’t be someone who got lost along the way. 

A thunderclap sounded not far from where Doc stood on top of his base, stained glass glittering in the last sunlight of this last evening here. Ex came to stand next to him like he had the night before, and most nights since he’d come out of the portal really. He joined Doc in letting his eyes wander across the builds below. “What are you gonna do in the next one?” 

Doc shrugged. “Don’t know yet. A bit of everything, as usual. Build a new base. Get myself settled. Find some crazy projects to fiddle with, see what the others are up to.”

“Make a cult,” Ex suggested, and Doc laughed as he went to sit at the edge of the base one more time. Ex followed his example silently. “A cult, really? And what would that be a cult for?”

“A goat,” Ex responded matter-of-factly. “A giant goat-overlord. You could build him a statue.”

“I’ll think about it,” Doc said with a grin. He knew Ex was smiling under his helmet.

For a while, they were silent, watching the last light fade into night time once more. The portal glowed in its familiar purple way down below.

“I’ll miss you,” Ex finally broke the silence. Doc felt his lips pull into a little smile. “Yeah. I’ll miss you too. What’s a peasant without his king, after all?”

Ex snorted. “I’ve asked myself that since I’ve known you. I guess I won’t find out, I’ll be gone by then. But I suppose you’ll do alright. Everyone is king when there’s no one left to pawn.” 

Doc hummed. “Maybe we’ll see each other again some day.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Ex unlatched his helmet and pulled it off, setting it somewhere a bit away from the base’s edge. “I’ll keep an eye out. Meet you in the next void?”

“Sounds good,” Doc replied with a smile. A faint wind rustled through the treetops. It was getting colder. Doc reached over and pulled Ex to his side, wrapping an arm around him. “You’ll get cold.”

“I’m in a full suit of insulated armour.”

“Just let me hold you, you bastard.”

Ex chuckled and leaned against Doc’s shoulder. Again, they just sat silently for a while, watching the familiar horizon.

“Do you think the communicator works across worlds?” asked Ex, his voice quieter this time. Doc squeezed his shoulder. “No, I don’t think it does. Keralis could only use his again after he ended up back with us.”

“Mhm,” Ex just said. He moved just the tiniest bit closer so that the side of his body was flush with Doc’s. “I really will miss you, then.”

“Yeah.”

Another couple of minutes passed by, then Doc turned away from the horizon to flash Ex a grin. “Hey, Ex.”

Ex returned his grin with a questioning look. “Hm?”

“Wanna make out?”

Ex burst into laughter, and Doc joined in. In the midst of the melancholy, this felt right. Easy. At peace.

“Yeah,” Ex finally replied between chuckles, giving Doc an impish grin. “For old time’s sake.”

Doc laughed softly. Then, putting a gentle hand to Ex’s cheek, he leaned in. It was a soft kiss, unlike any they had shared before – after Ex had left the void, they’d never so much as mentioned any of their exploits in the darkness again. Just left them there, between the stone chair and some forgotten shulker boxes, covered in amicable silence.

“Come spend the night,” Doc murmured when they parted. Eyes closed, foreheads touching. 

“Yeah, okay,” Ex whispered back, his hand creeping to find Doc’s where it lay on the stained glass. “Make it count.”

“You’ll never forget it.”

The void had never been filled with this much chatter before. The Hermits were all over the place and its few attractions, curiously peering into the shulkers that Doc had left behind and trying the throne on for size, some zooming for one last round with their soon-to-be left behind elytras, seeing if they could find a wall or a ceiling. 

Xisuma was hunkered down a bit to the side, busy with last minute check-ups on his screen. Doc and Ex stood in silence, watching the cheerful crowd, buzzing with excitement for the upcoming new beginning. Unnoticed by anyone but them, their fingers crept over to find each other’s, tangling together for one last, silent goodbye. 

“Okay everyone, we’re ready! Leave the supplies in the boxes since they’re here, and then stick together! No stragglers from the group!”

Like ducklings heeding their mother’s call, the Hermits followed Xisuma’s orders, dropping elytras and diamond boots into whichever shulker was closest to them and then following the admin, one by one, to the tune of happy chitchat, into the darkness. 

For a few more steps, Doc and Ex kept their hands tightly intertwined until, with one more squeeze, they let go and, still feeling the last lingering brush of the other’s fingertips against their own, went on their separate ways, listening to the departing footsteps behind them get swallowed by silence. 

Some long, turbulent hours later, Doc stared up into a brand new sky, blue and endless above an equally vast ocean. The sunlight was nice and warm. Soft grass was swaying in a gentle breeze below his feet, and not far off, he could hear Bdubs messing with some wood. 

He stretched out his arms and grinned. It was time to build a goat!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Everyone is king when there's no one left to pawn": Taken from [Beat the Devil's Tattoo](https://youtu.be/NEwVCQkEAtE) by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
> 
> [Time to build a goat!](https://youtu.be/cw_tD8iKAoQ)
> 
> Title is inspired by [The Queen of White Lies](https://youtu.be/G7nehwtJVac) by The Orion Experience  
> 
> 
> This is it! Thank you for reading everyone, I appreciate every kudos and comment and also the same goes for everyone who preferred to enjoy this without interacting. If you'd like the option of having a G-rated version of this fic for whatever purposes, you can find that [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27151184) under the title "The Queen of White Lies".
> 
> And if you'd like to read the continuation, there is now also a sequel called "King of Nothing". You can find it [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27935413/chapters/68411261).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Queen of White Lies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27151184) by [kingpig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingpig/pseuds/kingpig)




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